Breaking Down
by LeonPianta
Summary: Anxiety has bugged Matt long before he had a premonition of a building on campus collapsing, but when it flares up as the event's survivors begin to die as well, he teams up with an unlikely ally: a second visionary.
1. Rain

Author's Note: Just so you all know, this is not the long-awaited sequel to Out of Place, which is unlikely to be worked on as thought. This is a separate universe from that fic, but it follows the canon of the five movies. Enjoy!

* * *

Final Destination: Breaking Down

Chapter One: Rain

* * *

A storm rages over the campus, an unfortunate remnant of a faded hurricane. I have to grip my umbrella with both hands, skillfully guiding it through the yanking winds to provide maximum rain coverage. One of my earbuds rests over my ear and flaps against my temple in the wind.

"Matt." _Oh, whoops,_ I think.

"Sorry, what?" I reply, adjusting the cord of my earphones.

"Can I borrow your comp book?" Riley asks. I'd forgotten I even brought it, since I'd moved out of Composition and Rhetoric a year ago.

"Hell, you can keep it," I answer, awkwardly pulling it out of my backpack without removing it. "For one hundred dollars."

A gust of wind catches my umbrella, now only supported by one hand. It comes crashing down on the face of another one of my friends. The yelp reveals him to be Jason. "You alright?"

"Only my pride is damaged," Jason replies.

"I'm really sorry, I just…" A cacophony of thunder crashes leave me unable to finish my thought.

"That's enough fuckin' around out here; let's go inside," Kenny follows up. "I don't want to get stormed on."

"Aw, don't be so ready to abandon me," Ariana replies, throwing her arms around Kenny dramatically.

"Where's your class?" Kenny asks, lowkey trying to wiggle out of her grip.

"It's in Seamus," she answers, lazily tossing an arm at the building to the right of the one in front of us - the towering Charleston Building. "You kids have fun." She hugs me, and I squeeze back before releasing her into the world.

"But seriously, we have like three minutes," Riley cuts in. A gust of wind sprays my left side with increasingly heavy rain, so I agree and lead the dash indoors.

As always, a crowd of random college students stand before the elevators. "Well, have fun with _that_ bullshit," Kenny says. "I'm taking the stairs."

"Unbelievable," I respond, fistbumping him as I try to dry off. The building's air conditioning must have kicked on, since I find myself shivering. I glance around the ceiling of the first floor, and my eyes land on a flickering fluorescent light. With a minute buzz, it shuts off.

"Dude, get in the elevator," Jason says, shaking my shoulder. With only a nod, I obey, still moderately fixated on the light.

The elevator is quite unfortunately crowded. In addition to the three of us, there are five other people from my Civilization class. I find it a bit strange how seven of us all ended up on the same elevator.

A clank on the floor tells me that I've dropped the keychain I'd been fumbling with. I thought it was entirely contained in my pocket, but apparently I was jumping to some pretty erroneous goddamn conclusions. Awkwardly leaning sideways to avoid proximity to the butt of whoever was directly in front of me, I angle down and grab the keychain.

"Ah, floor six," Jason jokes.

"Is it me, or this elevator slow as shit." I don't recognize the guy who says this, but from the back of his jersey, his last name is Lawrence. He seems to be right; as the song on my phone transitions to Alanis Morissette's "Right Through You," it seems to signify the passing of time.

And then, the lights go out. I hear a few shrieks and curses, and I grasp instinctively at the stress ball in my right pocket, crushing it to remain calm.

After an uncountable amount of time, the lights flash back on. I block my eyes with the back of my hand as the doors open with a ding. "So much for a tech school," a girl, Lucy, laughs.

Riley claps me on the shoulder as he moves toward the first classroom to the left of the elevator, which I suppose is his Composition class. He pulls the door shut behind him, which accelerates and slams.

"You're jumpy today, bro," Jason says. "Scared of Civ?"

I try to laugh reassuringly but can only manage to exhale sharply. "Who wouldn't be?" As we enter, I take my usual place near the front and the door. Jason moves to the back, and I shake my head internally.

At least, I thought it was internally. It must have been externally as well, since Sakura gives me an odd look. "Something wrong?" she asks.

"Uh… sorry. No, it's fine," I answer, dropping my backpack onto the table.

Professor Reyns must be in a rush to get started, since he turns on the projector as soon as Sakura and I sit down. "Alright," he begins, "we've got some catching up to do today, so let's not be too slow. Who remembers which two of Israel's sons were born to Rachel?" He glances over the small collection of students, completely ignoring any hand-raising symbolism. "Jori?"

From the back, Jori sits up, tugging on her earlobe. "Eh… is it… Benjamin and Joseph?"

"Excellent," Professor Reyns answers. "Now, Joseph…" History is difficult enough for me to pay attention to on a good day, but my heart is absolutely racing. _Anxiety, this is not a good time,_ I think, uselessly.

"Hey." I hear a whisper behind me, but I can't identify it. When Reyns looks away to ask more questions, I turn around. "You good?" It's Amy, the only other nonbinary person in the class. And the whole university, as far as I'm aware. She always seems to know when I'm having an episode, even though we're not particularly close. I nod a couple of times before turning back to Reyns.

My heartbeat seems to pick up even now, and it seems another question has been asked, since the room is silent. I can hear my ears ringing, until…

SCREECH! The fire alarm roars to life, almost shocking me out of my seat. "What the-" Amy starts to say, interrupted by a crash of thunder which seems to rattle the whole building. A ceiling tile pops out, smacking one of the students sitting in the back on the head. Lucy screams and jumps to her feet.

"Alright, come on; let's stay calm and file out," Professor Reyns says. Most of us quickly exit the room, but I find myself unable, staring back at Reyns as he goes to awaken the unconscious student. Jori sits beside the two, looking nervously as the ceiling creaks.

Then, the back wall collapses. Jori screams as Reyns falls out into the storm, until the crumbling ceiling takes her and the student beside her out as well. I hear a few screams from the hall, and after a few seconds more of being frozen, I rush out of the room as well.

Everyone seems to be panicking. At least the elevators are being ignored, so the halls are not clogging. Alas, no one is moving slowly, and I can see that Lucy has fallen over. A seemingly endless slew of college students shuffles over her, stampeding her into the ground. The sight brings me to tears.

I rush over and grab her hand, trying to pull her up, but the lights flare, and I drop her. "Damn it!" I shout. Someone comes barreling through, shoving me against the wall and stomping down on Lucy's neck in a sickening crunch. I let another wail escape me before running for the staircase.

Coming from the sixth floor, we have five flights of stairs to descend before safety, so we're booking it. I can see the Lawrence guy trying to hop across the banisters to avoid the mass of people, but something seems to catch his foot, and he goes tumbling between the stairs. I seize up for a second; heights fuck me up, and this would be something I'd never forget.

The hallway begins to collapse right as I enter the stairwell, and the combination of shrieks and crunching metal propels me forward onto the staircase. It feels like pretty slow going, which gives me time to focus a bit on containing my own anxiety, enough to keep moving, at least.

"Matt!" Amy stands in front of me, hand extended as though to beckon me forward. I clasp her hand strongly and begin moving down the stairs.

Sakura stands at the bottom of this flight, before the glass windows of the fifth floor. "Come on!" she calls out, waiting for Amy and me. The windows shatter, and she trips to the ground. Jason runs back up to help her stand, but he stumbles and flails forward, falling onto a torn spike of window frame. Amy screams, suddenly unable to move.

Sakura raises her head and starts to push herself up with her arms, but the bits of glass hurt her, and she exclaims in pain. The moment I step forward to approach her, the ceiling over the ledge collapses again, blocking Sakura and Jason off forever.

"No!" I scream.

"We… we have to jump the banisters," Amy says, pointing past the inaccessible ledge. "Come on." She climbs carefully over the near banister, swiftly crossing the gap and stepping down, so slowly on the other side. It's a wide gap, but she seems to have only a bit of trouble. Steeling all of my willpower to keep from shuddering, I step atop the banister as well, crouching on all fours. "You've got this!" Amy says.

I inch my left leg across the open space, hands clenching the banister like my life depends on it. At this rate, it probably does. Unfortunately, another chunk of ceiling crashes down, and I flinch, losing my foothold. With a shout, I stop, hanging onto the bar with just my hands. "A-Amy!" I cry out. _You're losing your fucking mind,_ I think, repeatedly.

"It's okay! You're okay!" she calls. "Just… climb down to the next set below-" She stops talking when we hear another rumble. This one sounds like a raucous burst of thunder, or maybe a train exploding; I don't fuckin' know.

"Amy?" I ask, trying to shift my hands to the rods supporting the banister. She doesn't respond, and I try to choke back a cry. The vertical rods are hard to grip, and the friction burns my hands as I uncontrollably slide down them, until my fists rest against the stair below them. And with a prayer, I let go.

My hands find the next banister below. Crying in gratefulness, I hop back onto the stairs and run down as fast as I can. Someone left their backpack behind, on the damn staircase, so I jump over it and keep moving.

Alas, my foot brushes it, and I flinch, then falling down the rest of this half-flight. As the concrete rushes to meet my face, I shut my eyes.

When I open them again, I find myself in the lobby, being pulled by Jason into an open elevator. "W...what?"

"You strugglin' today?" Jason asks.

I grab his shoulders, squeezing ridiculously tight. Not above a whisper, I say: "Jason, what the fuck just happened?" I can hear terror coloring my voice.

"Whoa, easy there," he says, removing my hands. The elevator door closes, containing the eight of us. I drop my hand to my pocket to grab for my spinning keychain, but I hear the distinctive sound of it falling onto the elevator floor. "Ah, floor six," Jason jokes.

"Is it me, or this elevator-"

"Slow as shit," I whisper.

"Okay, what's goin' on here?" the Lawrence guy says.

"Right Through You…" I whisper. Two seconds later, I see the Alanis Morissette album artwork pop up on my phone screen. In shock, I let it fall.

"Matt, what are you doing?" Riley asks.

"We have to get out of here," I whisper.

"We have to what?" Lucy says. Then, the lights go out.

I can't help it; I call out. "We have to get out of here! The building's gonna collapse!"

"Shut up for like, one second!" Jori shouts. "Why's the elevator broken?"

I don't answer her. Still unable to see, I shove my way to the front of the elevator, blocking the door. I don't bother to cover my eyes when the lights come back on. "This isn't right! We have to get out!"

"You want us to miss class?" Sakura asks, clearly quite concerned. The doors ding open, but I remain still, preventing any exit.

"Hello?" a voice asks from outside. Someone wants to go down. Still in a panicked state, I push everyone tighter, allowing him in.

"Dude, let me go to class," Lucy says. The door shuts, and I jam my finger on the first floor button.

"Matt, please focus," Amy says, resting her hand on my shoulder. "What's going on?"

"I… I saw the whole building collapse… everyone panicking and t-trying to e-escape…" I find myself unable to continue.

"...Okay, let's get you to the health center," she follows.

"So… are we going to class now?" Lawrence guy asks. The nine of us pour out into the lobby, and I look to the left, hearing another panicked cry.

A few people run after another, a girl, who's running for the fire alarm. "Denali, don't!" a guy shouts, but she pulls it anyway.

SCREECH!

"Now! Get out!" I shout, running for the door.

"What in the hell…" Jori says.

"Well, looks like we have to now," Riley answers, popping out his umbrella.

As the others join me outside, I see the group with Denali - six in total. In fact, the guy from the elevator had joined us as well. "So…" he starts to say.

"Matt, dude, you shouldn't be out in this without your umbrella," Riley says, casually angling his to shield us both. He doesn't seem to know how to respond to my panic attack, so he says nothing else.

"Denali," one of the other girls says, "you're freaking me out. What are you…" With that, Charleston Building groans. We all look up to it and watch the seventh floor collapse.

"Oh shit!" Jason says. A few of them scream, but I can't tell who. All I can do is watch as people race outside, and the sixth floor crumbles, then the fifth floor, and the fourth floor...


	2. Ice and Fire

Author's Note: From this point on, the story will be written in the past tense. It's sort of a thing I have to differentiate between the visions and the real occurrences, and I found that writing the entire story in present tense would be difficult. Hope you're ready for things to get started!

* * *

Final Destination: Breaking Down

Chapter Two: Ice and Fire

* * *

I gripped Ariana's hands tightly as we sat in the bleachers of the athletic complex. It was quite commendable that the university had so quickly planned a memorial service for the deceased students and teachers. It had been two weeks after the accident, but as of yet I was unable to bring myself to a completely calm state.

President Browning began listing off names. There must have been several classes in session; the death toll was in the fifties. One name in particular struck me. "Kenny Parker." Momentarily shocked, I squeezed Ariana's hands even tighter, trying to keep tears from running wild down my face. _I couldn't save Kenny..._ He was one of the first people I'd met when I was joining the fraternity, and now he was the first person I'd ever known well who had died. To think he had suffered, getting crushed in a building... It sent another chill down my spine, and I gripped Ariana even tighter.

Thankfully, she remained respectfully silent.

None of the other survivors had a word to say to me, excepting Riley, who simply patted my shoulder. In a way, I understood; I'd known about the tower collapse before it happened. But were they suspicious of me? Afraid of my psychic powers? Associating me with death? Whatever it was, it wasn't giving my anxiety a good time.

At some point, I was hoping to talk to Denali. I didn't know if she was having the same problems I was, but surely she had something going on. The trouble was, I never saw her around campus. Not that I could focus on the faces of people that passed me, but I seemed to have a sixth sense for the eight people from the elevator, so perhaps I would know right away when she was near.

I didn't see her at the memorial. She might have lost some of her best friends without even a chance to save them, though, and I could understand that. _I can't believe Kenny's really dead…_ The feeling was hollow, like a blizzard had stormed through my chest, and the sun never returned. I figured I would begin to heal maybe after a week or so, at least a tiny bit, but the icy grip around me refused to ease up.

I settled into the dining hall after class the next day, pulling an Alka-Seltzer tab from my backpack and chucking it onto the seat beside me. With my left hand, I added the tab to my glass of water, while rolling my stress ball between the fingers of my right. I took a long gulp of water, then lazily picking up a piece of cantaloupe and pulling out my phone.

The clink of porcelain told me someone had set their dishes down on my table, so I slowly glanced up. "Jason," I said, the only greeting I could muster. I hadn't seen him since the day Charleston collapsed. Honestly, it was probably mostly my fault; I found it easier to isolate myself after how the other survivors reacted to me.

"Sup," he said, not even as a question.

"School, mostly," I replied. I hated hearing myself so blunt and succinct, but I hadn't been up for doing most anything else. Jason knew I hadn't been to any of our fraternity events in the meantime, not when all they did was make me wish I could have saved Kenny.

"You need any help with anything?" Sure, my studies hadn't been up to par as of late, but I was far from failing. In fact, doing homework was probably as distracted as I could be, which I reveled in. It occurred to me that he could have been asking if I needed psychological help, which I absolutely did, but I doubted I could get it from him.

"No… Thank you, though." I let a few seconds pass. "Seriously." Jason only nodded, so I brought the cantaloupe to my teeth.

I looked up several seconds later. Jason was focusing intently on his cell phone on the table, so I let my gaze wander to the other students in the dining hall. I didn't recognize most of them, but they seemed as content as ever. It was honestly a bit depressing. However, I finally saw someone else who had escaped the accident. Denali.

"Sorry, I have to…" I mumbled in Jason's direction, sliding out of my seat. I grabbed my backpack, leaving my plates behind. If he replied, I didn't catch it. I focused on trying to figure out how to start this conversation.

"Uh…" I began. _Solid._ "You're Denali, right?"

"...Do I know you?" she replied, not quite looking me in the eye. This was going to be more difficult than I had thought.

"I…" my voice began to croak. _Fuck, not now,_ I whined internally. "You pulled the f-fire alarm in Charleston that day, and I was wondering…"

Denali sighed, looking back down. "How I knew it would collapse? Honestly, I'm tired of talking about it…" Her discontentment softened into an almost despairful weariness.

"So… you did know. Then, you h-had a, uh, premonition?" This made her look up, and she captured my gaze. "I… so did I."

"Do you ever think," she whispered, "that you're just… absolutely crazy? Or is that just me?" She bit her lip then, as if piecing more thoughts into words. "It's like, I've been having PTSD. Literally. Whenever I sleep, I see… I can see Ben getting crushed by the light fixture, and…" She stopped there. "Do you get nightmares?"

"I…" The easy answer was no, but I was never one to be so simple. I found myself sliding into the seat across from her, and said, "I haven't. Not when I'm asleep, that is. My, uh, episodes happen during the day. I'll be… I don't know, sitting in class, I'll think about watching a guy fall down the stairwell, and I'll…" I clenched my fist unintentionally, driving my fingernails into my palm in a vain attempt to relax. "S-sorry."

"No, it's not your fault," she replied. She looked as though she wanted to pat my hands reassuringly or something, but neither of us moved a muscle.

"It feels like I can't get out of this… cloud of…" I tapped at the table, trying to place a name to my perpetual frigidity.

"Of death?" Her whisper surprised me, but a moderate sinking sensation in my chest made me believe she was right.

After a few seconds, I capped off the silence. "We weren't supposed to survive, I feel. And it's… a petrifying feeling."

Denali pushed her jaw to one side, then rubbing her lip. "How many people did you save?"

It was an odd question, but the number was not difficult for me to retrieve. "Nine. Uh, counting me, that is."

"Then that's fifteen altogether." She closed her eyes, apparently trying to take comfort in this fact. "Thank you, Matt. And… here's my number. Let me know if you need to talk." She slipped me a torn corner of notebook paper.

"Likewise," I nodded. With that, she stood and walked out.

* * *

My early-started sleep that night was interrupted by a loud crashing sound. Instantly, I froze, recalling the sound of the Charleston ceiling crushing Jori and the student beside her. _That really happened to them,_ I thought, immobilizing myself for a few more seconds. After that, I finally stood up, slowly maneuvering toward my light switch. I blocked my eyes with the back of my hand as I flipped the switch, almost as if I was afraid to see what had fallen.

"Oh…" I said. It had been nothing. At least, nothing in my main room. A quick check of the closet and restroom attached to my bedroom revealed the same.

I stepped out into the common room, glancing left into the kitchen. One of the cabinet doors was open, and several boxes of food rested on the floor. As I approached, I noticed a can of soup had fallen as well, cracking open on the tile. "Damn it."

"Hey, what was that?" I turned around sharply to see one of my roommates, Reggie, behind me.

"I don't know," I said, turning back to the spilt soup. "Guess this stuff all just…" I drifted off, noticing the letters of the alphabet soup. Briefly, I wondered if there was an even distribution of letters in the can, but then I noticed a word. Of course letters made words, but this one was sort of… unavoidable. In my face, sort of. "Sink…"

"Sink?" Reggie asked, unamused.

"Uh, n-never mind. Let's clean this up." I leaned down to pick up half of the can. A small piece of its torn label stuck to my hand after I threw it in the trash. "IRON: 10%."

Reggie sighed. "Yuck."

* * *

Jori stepped into her laundry/bathroom, shutting the door behind her. The small space made her feel finally alone and much more comfortable. She pulled her iron down from the shelf above her washing machine, slightly dislodging a box that was beside it. Reaching past a couple of hampers, she plugged the cord into the wall. The iron fell over, banging on the drier lid. Jori jumped but remained calm. "Oops." She set it back up, then readying her clothes.

She'd stacked several pairs of pants on the countertop of her sink, and when she grabbed the pile to move, she knocked a couple of soap dispensers on the floor. One had cracked, unnoticed by Jori, who only sighed and decided to return to them later. The pairs of pants plopped atop the washing machine, and she began her ironing.

The second pair of pants had been stained by an ink marker, and Jori noticed - after stamping a large blue spot on her palm. "Oh, damn it." She crossed the room to the sink, turning it on full blast to power-wash the ink off. She went to dry her hands before closing the faucet, but she was then racked by a major sneeze. She dropped the towel, which draped over the spilled soap.

"Well, while I'm here…" She kneeled down, extending her legs behind her and placing her hand on the towel. Then, the soap slipped.

The towel slid forward, lodging under the doorjamb. Jori fell onto her stomach, one of her legs knocking into the washing machine. The iron tumbled as clothing from a tipped hamper fell onto her.

The face of the iron landed on her thigh. Letting out a scream of pain, she flailed to knock the iron away. She spun around in shock, and the cord was yanked from the wall. It wrapped around her legs, and she kicked again. The iron itself hit the back wall, knocking several boxes off the shelf.

Jori shouted again in fear, but she remained relatively uninjured from the fall. She pulled on her legs and was shocked to find the fallen items had caught the cord - it would not budge. She tried to sit up, pressing her hands against the floor, but she found it newly slick with water. The sink had overflown, and water was rising in the small room. Jori's arms seized in terror, and she collapsed onto her back.

The ceiling light flared, leading Jori to flip over and gasp simultaneously. This brought water into her mouth, and she screamed again, the light continuing to flash on and off. The soap bottle had emptied all over the floor, and the water from the sink had caused it to form a lathery mess. Jori was completely unable to lift herself, and her stumblings only brought additional items down on top of her.

After another couple of minutes, her fight was over.


	3. Alone

Author's Note: I hope you're ready for some character development! Enjoy.

* * *

Final Destination: Breaking Down

Chapter Three: Alone

* * *

Since I didn't have Civ at the same time anymore, I had more time between classes on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Thus, I spent my free time in the library. The third floor was filled with periodicals and scientific journals, so it was less popular than the other floors, and I'd recently found a solo table hidden in one corner. The seclusion was life-saving, at least in a metaphoric sense. Indeed, it was so calm that I found myself drifting off one Wednesday.

"Matt." My name startled me awake. Glancing quickly around, I saw Riley approaching me with a concerned face. "Have you seen Jori?"

"N-no, not today. Why?" I could feel something like a stone settle in my lungs.

"She wasn't in Physics today, and she never responded to any of my Facebook messages," he said. "Which is… really unlike her. Do you think she's really sick or something?"

"I-I don't know… uh, Amy's her roommate. Did you ask her?" I said, rubbing my eye and temple simultaneously.

"I'll try," he grunted, pulling out his phone. I sat there for several seconds, uncomfortably staring to read his facial expressions. They remained quite neutral, but his eyes widened as he turned his phone to me.

Amy had not wasted any time answering. "Get to the basement of the commons NOW," she had texted. I felt compelled by the universe to go along with Riley, so I stood and lead the way. With a nod, he followed.

I couldn't keep myself from jogging - Amy _did_ say "NOW," so it was likely quite serious. Riley, thankfully, just went with it, and in five minutes, we arrived at the commons.

The basement was useful for almost nothing, apart from getting away from just about everyone. I wondered why the university kept it open, but I'd have to figure that out later. I spotted Amy, the only other person downstairs, it seemed.

"I went out for a few hours last night to hang with some friends, and when I got home, I went straight to bed," she began, right away. I furrowed my brow, wondering what this had to do with Jori. "And I didn't have class until late today, so I woke up at like eleven and went to use the bathroom. When I opened the door, water flooded out. Someone had left the sink on all night and flooded the room."

"What? How?" Riley asked. It did seem extremely unlikely.

"And then I saw her… Jori was lying on the ground, covered in fallen boxes and stuff…"

"Oh fuck," Riley whispered. The stones in my lungs seemed to grow heavier.

"I… pretty much just got back to campus after talking to the police," Amy finished, her voice ever so slightly lower in pitch and volume. To my surprise, she didn't start crying, but she did seem to have a difficult time making eye contact.

"Did she…" Riley started.

Amy shook her head repeatedly, as if convincing herself, then scratching her forehead. "No, it was just… a freak accident. A really specific one, like… like everything that could go wrong did." We let those words be the last shared for several minutes. "Matt, what are you feeling?"

"What?" I did not expect that question, of all things, to be what she said.

"You seem like you almost knew this was coming. What I want to know is… did you… see it again? Did you know Jori was going to die?"

Riley had adopted quite a shocked gaze and backed away ever so slightly. I sighed. "No… I had no idea. It's just…" I revisited the premonition of Charleston's collapse, seeing Jori crushed by the ceiling for probably the twentieth time now. The last time I saw it was the night before, when the pantry had spilled… "Sink."

"Sink?" Amy said, raising her eyebrows as though seriously unamused.

"The- last night. I spilled some alphabet soup, and when I looked at the letters on the floor, the word 'sink' caught my attention. It was just… kinda surreal, you know?" Amy and Riley didn't seem to feel as uncomfortably as I felt, so I didn't continue.

"...We'd better get to class," Riley said, quietly. Amy and I both looked at him, wordlessly. With a light nod, he turned to the stairwell and slowly ascended.

"A-Amy, if you need to talk to someone about it, just…" I started, hoping that was enough to be understood.

"Yeah. Thanks." She probably didn't mean to sound as blunt as she did, but I figured she needed time to come to terms with her emotions, so I let her be.

* * *

Denali had fallen asleep on the couch in her dorm's living room. Her roommates respectfully let her sleep, quietly turning off the lights as they left. Unfortunately, as she slipped into a REM cycle, it was time for the nightmares to come again.

 _The whole world seems to rumble with thunder, and I stand, in preparation for escape. "Something's wrong…" Valerie says, squeezing the hem of her shirt._

" _Everyone, remain calm," Doctor Harrell calls, then clearing her throat. She is followed by the whine of overstressed metal, and a light fixture tears from the ceiling._

 _Ben looks up just in time to see the fixture crashing down on top of him. It doesn't catch him cleanly, and one of his arms falls uselessly to the ground beside Yvonne, who screams and leaps for the door._

 _Doctor Harrell tells everyone again to remain calm. The ceiling wails again, Ben looks up and gets crushed again, in a nauseous squishing sound. The scene replays once more, and then again, and again-_

"Ah!" Denali was awakened by her own yelp. She was surprised to find the lights off, and then again when she realized she was in the common room. "Bree?" she called out. There was no answer, so she figured she was alone. Not knowing how else to spend her time, she turned on the TV, hoping to get the image she'd dreamt out of her mind.

She hazily skipped through channels, looking for something more interesting than the video version of the campus radio show. She paused for a second on one channel, feeling drawn to it. It was a news channel, featuring a high school senior who'd participated in some fancy scientific research, it seemed. As a business major, she didn't care much for research, but she was a bit put off by how much the kid looked like Ben.

 _It's probably just his brother or something,_ she thought, trying to relax. She stretched out her fingers, knocking the remote onto the floor. After a hard clack, the channels began fluctuating on their own. "Stupid remote," she groaned. After a few seconds, the TV stopped on an oldies channel. The grayscale title card for "I Love Lucy" came on, and then the TV froze. "W… damn it," she sighed, retrieving the remote. Jamming on the buttons proved useless, but she kept at it. She felt a light tingle in her spine, which finally stopped her.

A moment later, the dorm door opened, and Denali flinched slightly. The channel changed one more time, to the Food Network. Denali turned to see her roommates enter.

"You're awake," Bree said, sort of an endeared amusement. Denali laughed it off, one weak chuckle. "You don't usually sleep during the evening, or on the couch. Are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah, you look kind of… sluggish," her other roommate, Georgia, said, taking out her ponytail holder.

"...Yeah, I think so," Denali answered, quietly. Her eyes fixated on the TV, so her roommates shrugged and headed to their bedrooms.

She tried to place the strange feeling the show title card had given her but found herself unable. As focused as she was, she jumped in fright when her cell phone beeped. She glanced at it, surprised to see she had a call from an unknown number, with a 507 area code. "...Hello?"

"Denali? It's Matt," the voice replied. She relaxed slightly. "You said one of the people you saved was named Ben, right?"

She briefly thought of her most recent nightmare. "Yeah. Why?"

"I was scrolling through Facebook and came across a post that said one of the people I saved was going on a date with a Ben. And then my laptop froze."

"Just like my TV…" Denali whispered. "Ben Mylar?"

"That's the one. Listen, I think something's fishy here," Matt answered.

"What's your friend's name?" Denali asked, compelled from out of nowhere.

"Lucy."

Her heart skipped a beat. "Okay, meet me in front of the dining hall in ten," she said, hanging up and jogging outside.

* * *

Valerie took a heavy drag of her cigarette, absent-mindedly looking through photos on her phone. She stopped on one of herself with Denali, arms locked in a silly dance at a friend's party. Neither of the girls had a care in their eyes, and their smiles were as solid as diamond.

Valerie could now only remember Denali as the petrified woman who'd seen Charleston collapse in her mind, who ignored her friends' assuaging words to yank down the fire alarm. Denali had been afraid since that day, and honestly, Valerie had too.

Against her better judgement, she kept scrolling, knowing what she was getting herself into. She landed on a picture of a girl kissing her on the cheek, and she squeezed out a few tears. "Laurel…" Laurel hadn't been nearly as lucky as Valerie. As much of a blessing as Denali's vision had been, Laurel had already gotten to class. Valerie didn't find out until the next day, and she was pretty sure she killed an entire pack of cigarettes shortly following.

Ben had been her only rock for the past two weeks - Pablo and Yvonne had been focusing on helping Denali. And now that Valerie found she needed him again, he'd gone off on a date. She found herself cursing him for a split second. _No,_ she thought, _he deserves to have a life of his own._ She shook her head, half-heartedly laughing at how emotional she was. Standing, she snuffed out her cigarette and shuffled over to the fridge for a soda.

She'd never met this Lucy girl, but if Ben was going on a date with her, Valerie figured she must be pretty great. With her first smile of the night, she pulled up Lucy's Facebook page.

And promptly dropped her phone.

Lucy looked so much like Laurel. Not necessarily as if they were related or anything, but her picture radiated the same light, saccharine aura that she saw every day in her girlfriend. Her unrelenting optimism was one of the many reasons Valerie had loved her.

With a frustrated sigh, she took a loud sip of soda. With the can in one hand and her phone in the other, she trundled back to her room. She sighed again, setting the can on her desk beside a photo of her friends, and she plopped face-first onto her bed.

Gazing at her phone, Valerie sent Lucy a friend request. "Be good for him, okay?" she whispered, then choosing to fall asleep.

Silently, the soda can tipped over, onto the picture frame.


	4. Fated

Author's Note: It'd be cool if you all liked Valerie after that little blurb because I know I sure do. In any case, prepare yourselves for Matt and Denali's trip to save Ben and Lucy. Meaning, of course, prepare to suffer this entire chapter.

* * *

Final Destination: Breaking Down

Chapter Four: Fated

* * *

I sat outside the dining hall, hands in my cargo pockets and feet tapping uncontrollably. Alas, I was not focused on them. Half of my attention was being used to watch for Denali's car, and the other half was trying to identify where Lucy and Ben had gone. I'd only been in town for a bit over a year, and I ate mostly on campus, so I hoped that Denali would have a better idea.

As she pulled into the parking lot I stood, albeit quite preemptively. I waited for her to park before looking around carefully and crossing the lot.

"Are you ready?" she asked.

"Not quite. Lucy posted a picture of them in some restaurant, but I have no idea which one it is," I said, frowning.

"Here, let me look." She leaned over, angling my phone screen to see the image directly. "I think I know where that is. I mean, I know it. It's Harris & Louisa's. I'm just… not quite sure I remember where it is. Is it on Orange Tree?"

"Uh…" I switched out of Facebook and went online. Denali's hand hovered over her keys in the ignition. "Come on, wifi…" After a few agonizing seconds, text finally popped onto my screen. "Excellent. Yes, it's Orange Tree."

The car revved up. "Then I can get us there in ten minutes."

"What's the plan when we get there?" I asked.

"Try to make sure nothing dangerous happens, I guess." Denali seemed to shrug after saying that.

"And if something dangerous happens?"

She exhaled deeply through her nose, rapping the fingers of her right hand against the steering wheel. "We do what we can." I didn't like the sound of that, but I didn't know how to respond, so I simply curled my lips inward.

The whole car ride was pretty quiet, really. The silence swelled and pulsed in my ears. As we approached the restaurant, I found myself unable to handle it anymore. "Why are we here? Is it just crazy that I'm worried?"

"For whatever reason, I'm worried too. I guess it's what we get for watching our friends die." As morbid as she sounded, it was almost a call to action, at least with her inflection. Nodding as though surrendering to my apprehensions, I exited the car.

* * *

"It's just, I've never really dated before," Ben said, looking down at his lap. "I don't know; I always thought that I was aromantic, but now, looking at you…"

Lucy blushed, looking away as well. "I-it's okay. You could still be greyaromantic or something." She slowly brought her focus back up to Ben, and she found he was looking at her with a slight smile.

"Yeah," he replied. "That sounds about right." Realizing he had been staring, he blushed, and Lucy giggled sweetly. "Uh… so what did you order again?" he asked, then internally shaking his head. _Lame!_

Fortunately, Lucy kept smiling. "The beef and veggie kabobs," she answered. "You're welcome to try some if you want." Lucy imagined herself slowly feeding him a chunk of carrot, and she found her face heating up once more. "Oh, here's your steak!"

 _Thank God,_ Ben thought, pleased to have a chance to think before he spoke.

* * *

I scanned the area visible from the entryway but could not find a sign of the two of them. "Okay, where's this?" I asked Denali, pointing to a piece of wall art behind Ben and Lucy in the photo. It was a beautiful collage of fine, silver stars on a black background. I found myself enamored by it.

"It's a good thing they're lame enough to be posting pictures online actually during the date," Denali replied. "This way." She lead me into a side room. We finally saw them, and I relaxed instantly. Until Ben's soda spilled into his lap, that is. He shouted in surprise and jerked sideways.

"I gotta go wash this off…" he said to Lucy, obviously embarrassed. As he stood up, a server behind him bumped into him, upturning to platter of food. Ben's widened eyes locked onto Denali's.

I looked down, wondering why he'd frozen. There was a red spot spreading on his shirt and a kabob skewer lodged through his chest. A few more kabobs plopped and clattered onto the floor.

Everyone was silent for a second. Lucy stared, mouth and eyes agape. She shuffled to get out of her seat and stand before Ben, wanting to hold him in his last seconds. As she stepped onto the ground, she slipped on a piece of beef, falling face-first onto an upright skewer.

Then we heard the first screams.

* * *

Denali sank into her computer chair, trying to focus solely on the smooth caress of the suede on her arms. She shut her eyes for a moment but found herself only able to think of Ben's face. He looked so shocked and so scared for an endless second, and when his face drained of emotion and color, it sickened her. She stood quickly, bring her hands up to grasp at her scalp.

"How am I ever going to forget this?" she whispered, eyes full of tears. She rubbed her hand along the top of her chair, letting the fabric tickle her fingers.

Suddenly weary, she unconsciously made her way over to her bed. A few seconds after lying down, she was fast asleep. And the nightmares began again.

 _Yvonne leaps to the door, putting Ben's severed arm out of sight. Grabbing Pablo's shoulder beside me, I push for the door as well. I watch as several students run outside, joining the rush of people screaming in the hallway._

" _Valerie, come on!" Pablo shouts. Seemingly in a daze, Valerie fails to respond. "Valerie!"_

 _Pablo's second shout finally catches her attention. She shakes her head as though to awaken herself. Without a word, she runs for Pablo and me. As she holds out her hand, the floor beneath us crumbles. I do catch her hand and find myself supporting her._

 _She screams as she flies down and forward, then suddenly she's silent. I look down to see she's been impaled on the torn up metal underneath the floor. I let her go instantly._

" _Valerie, come on!" Pablo shouts again. The scene repeats itself again, then two more times, until-_

Denali jerked awake again, her brow encircled by a sprinkle of sweat. "Oh my god…" She could feel the fear she'd felt two weeks ago returning, bubbling up inside her stomach and evaporating to fill her chest. Thus, she whipped out her cell phone and called Valerie.

"Denali?" her friend asked.

She exhaled fully. "Hey, Valerie. Listen, I was wondering if you're free? Right now?"

"Uh, yeah. Why; what's up?"

"...Wanna have a sleepover at my place?" Denali slowly squeezed and unclenched her hand.

"Yes. Yeah, that sounds great. Uh, see you in fifteen?" Valerie asked.

Denali was relieved to hear that Valerie almost seemed enthused. She probably wasn't wanting to be alone either after Ben's death. "Great, see you then."

"Bye," Valerie said, hanging up.

Another twinge of despair hit Denali. Ben had only just died within a couple of hours, so it was likely that Valerie actually didn't know. She had no intention of being the one to tell her, so she planned to avoid the topic altogether.

* * *

When I returned to my room, I buried my face in my pillow, shuddering heavily. I'd never even been to an open casket funeral, much less watched someone die in front of me in real life. It was sickening, hearing that second skewer go through L-

I seized violently, clenching my fists as I recalled the incident. Unable to calm my mind, I dug my fingernails into my palms as hard as I could. That would be enough to let me find a distraction, so I pulled out my phone, intending to hop on YouTube to find a humor video.

Instead, I found that I had twelve texts and a missed call from Jason. "Oh shit…" I quickly unlocked my phone and checked the most recent message he'd sent me. It was rather enraged.

I'd completely forgotten he wanted to go to the movies. I knocked my phone against my forehead in resignation, then continued reading the earlier messages. At least as I went backward, they got calmer and kinder. If I had been feeling better, I may have fought back against the more personal things, but I decided I didn't have the fortitude.

I texted a simple "I'm sorry" and then, for some damn reason, gave him a call.

"What?" His answer was cold and quick.

"Jason, listen, I'm so sorry, but something came up-"

"Then you should have told me when you found out about it. Not hours later."

I exhaled sharply. "No, you don't understand. Denali-"

"I do understand. You'd rather hang out with Denali all the time. Remember your other friends? Remember your fraternity? I've seen you one time in two weeks, for a few minutes, before you abandoned me to talk to Denali. And now, this."

"Jason, no, I had to-" _Will he please let me finish a sentence?_

"You need to start thinking about how you treat people around you, 'cause I'm not havin' none of this again," Jason said, bluntly.

"God DAMN it will you listen to me?" I breathed out again to showcase my frustration. "Someone's dead."

Silence over the line echoed in my ears for several lengthy seconds. I may have even heard him gulp. "Not funny, dude." The line clicked, and I looked down to see he'd hung up.

I was glad my phone was in a strong defense case, since my next action was to chuck it across the room with a rageful grunt. It clattered loudly into my bookshelf, tumbling to the floor alongside one of my books. After a few seconds, I stood to see if they were damaged.

Fortunately, they were not. Ignoring the remaining unopened text messages, I slipped my phone into my pocket, then picking up the book. It was a simplistic field guide for gemstone identification, and it had opened to the page on diamonds. The word 'luster' caught my eye as I shut it. The moment I set it back on the shelf, I had another flashback.

The guy whose name I didn't know tumbled down the stairwell. Luckily, I only saw it once, and I was able to pull my fingernails away from my palm. But I suddenly knew.

He was in danger.


	5. Grasp

Author's Note: Thank you all so much for not attacking me after making Ben and Lucy really cute and then totally stabbing them. It had to happen. Suffer.

* * *

Final Destination: Breaking Down

Chapter Five: Grasp

* * *

I wasn't sure who to ask to figure out the Lawrence guy's first name. For whatever reason, I couldn't find him on Facebook through mutual friends, and I knew Jason and Riley didn't know him at all. I honestly doubted Sakura and Amy were friends with him either, considering we were all just randomly-selected classmates. Alas, I had no choice if I wanted to watch out for him.

Since I had Amy's cell phone number, I texted her first, asking if she knew the name of the other guy I'd saved.

Her response was "Which one?" Then, I recalled - someone had joined us on the elevator after my premonition. I didn't catch his name either.

Thus, I replied, "...both? And which one was our classmate?" I waited, rather impatiently, for her reply.

After what seemed like five minutes, it finally came. "Our classmate is Cameron Lawrence. The other guy I don't know, but I think his name is Titus." I sent her a quick thank you, then trying to find Cameron Lawrence on Facebook again. There were quite a few, none of whom had any friends that I knew at all, but I finally found him.

Of course, this was hardly enough information to find and protect him, but at least it was something. I looked to see if there was anything recently posted that would say where he was, but it was to no avail. With a semi-despondent grunt, I typed out a quick message requesting conversation in his mailbox. Refraining from sending a friend request, I looked at the clock.

 _Oh._ It was the middle of the night. The bright "1:04" glared at me, as if chiding me for being so worried. I would have to hope that nothing would go wrong until tomorrow, resigning myself to sleep.

As I rolled over, I thought I saw the clock glitch out, saying "11:04."

* * *

Denali had offered her bed to Valerie, but her friend had insisted on using the little plush guest bed Denali had pulled from her closet. "The box _does_ say 'guest' on it," Valerie said, laughing quietly with a weak smile.

"Well, whatever makes you happy," Denali said, giggling as well. She threw an arm around Valerie's shoulder, squeezing it gently.

"Listen…" Valerie started. "I know you've been stressing out hardcore these last few weeks. We've all been… at least shaken up over someone- thing. Something. But uh… I really appreciate you having me over. Thank you." She wrapped Denali in a small hug.

"We really should be taking better care of each other. Sorry I've been kind of selfish lately," Denali answered.

"Aw, I'm sorry I never talked to you about what you saw. But hey, if you want to talk now, I'm definitely here."

Denali smirked, not really wanting that topic to come to fruition. "No, it's fine for now. Hey, we've both lost people; let's just be here for each other and watch 'Mean Girls' like we used to," she said.

"Now that sounds like a plan. Wait, both? Hey, Denali, I'm so sorry. Who did you lose?" Valerie seemed to be struggling to keep her focus, and her voice slowly decrescendoed.

Denali simply could not risk Valerie's reaction to hearing Ben had been killed, so she played it off. "Oh, just… flashbacks, that's all…" Valerie did not look convinced, but she knew better than to pry before Denali was ready to share. Thus, she nodded and popped 'Mean Girls' into the DVD player.

After the movie, Valerie found herself significantly sleepier than she'd expected, so both settled into their respective beds. Valerie took almost no time to fall asleep, but Denali had a significantly more difficult time.

She tried sleeping once, only finding herself capable of dreaming of Valerie's death, repeatedly. Surrendering, she rolled onto her side, staring at the peacefully resting figure on the floor. Her gaze was somewhat noble and somewhat obsessive, but she would not allow harm to befall Valerie that night.

And when she finally fell asleep again, the nightmares did not disturb her.

* * *

I checked my watch restlessly as I walked across campus. My friends had always joked about how quickly I walk, but with Cameron in danger, I was really booking it. The time read "11:01," so hopefully he was not on his way to class, or he'd be late.

I had only just left class, myself, almost literally bolting from the room in a hall that used to overlook Charleston tower. Even now, it was still a heart-puncturing sight, but I had more important things to worry about. I heard the sound of a car whooshing past me, and I felt the breeze over my cheek. As I turned to see who would be going so quickly on a campus road, I saw nothing.

Turning my head sharply in the direction of the academic buildings, I quickly scanned and surprisingly found him. "Cameron," I whispered to myself, seeing him biking toward a crosswalk. Compelled by adrenaline, I sprinted in his direction.

Cameron was a bit out of focus, he realized as he almost entered the crosswalk. Shaking his head once, he turned, not noticing someone running directly toward him. As he squeezed past a few people on the sidewalk, he found himself transfixed on a tall, beautiful girl. She was wearing quite a lot of gorgeous jewelry, which sparkled in her eyes.

Then, it happened. With a turn of her wrist, a brilliant diamond on her bracelet reflected in quite a stellar manner. In fact, Cameron was blinded for a moment, and his bike swerved toward the road. A speeding car was headed right for him.

Before he could tumble into the road, he was grabbed from behind and yanked off his bike. As he fell roughly onto the sidewalk, the car barrelled into the bike, utterly destroying it and continuing to fly by.

Cameron stared in shock at the road for a few seconds, falling back onto one elbow before looking at me beside him. I'd also fallen, into a seated position, and my spine was not pleased, but I revelled slightly in my first success. "You saved me, bro…" he said, still shaken up. "You… you saved me at Charleston too, dawg…"

Not knowing how else to respond, I nodded. "i do what I can." Immediately I felt ashamed at how lame it sounded, but luckily Cameron was in no position to judge.

We remained there long enough for the various witnesses to clear out, and I stood slowly. He didn't follow suit, reaching over to pick up the nearest piece of his bike, one of the reflectors. Only then did he begin to stand, turning it over in his left hand and sticking out his right. "Cameron," he introduced.

With my first smile of the day, I clapped it. "Matt."

* * *

Denali sat in Macroeconomics, chewing on what remained of her fingernails. It did not take long for her to chew off the last one she could wrap her teeth around, and she switched then to running her hand down one of her braids. Math was the last thing she wanted to think about when she could feel one of her friends was in danger.

She looked down, staring blankly at her open notebook and resting her head on her hand. The notes were so nice and simple, informative and complete. Up until the textbook chapter they'd started that day, of course. She'd written nothing since she sat down. There was no sense in trying to listen now - she'd read the textbook later.

It didn't occur to her that she was zoning out until her hand relaxed and plopped on the table, leading her head to rock forward sharply. She drew the attention and ire of her professor. "Please try to stay awake, Ms. Tibeluk," she said.

"Sorry…" Denali answered, sliding her hand back. Feeling something on it, she looked down, then scoffing. It was a half-melted Skittle. Her mouth wrenched into a disgusted frown, but she stared at it for several seconds before flicking it off. As she dug a moist towelette from her bag, she felt a flash of heat. _Am I dehydrated?_ She couldn't remember the last time she drank water. From the looks of the wall clock, though, class would be released in a few minutes.

As the professor packed up, Denali pulled out her phone and called Valerie. "Why don't you come on over Vaaalerie?" she sang.

"Haha! Been awhile since you offered like that. I'm going to the mall real quick. I'm driving though; call ya back," Valerie replied, then hanging up.

Cursing to herself, Denali switched to her text message application. A message from Matt stood out. She opened it, concerned by the directness of the wording. "The next guy almost died, but I saved him. This danger is real. We need to tell everyone."

Denali had feared as much. "On the way to get Valerie now. We should all meet up tonight. Have a good place?" Watching the parking lot carefully, she power-walked to her car.

"Let's do commons basement, 8 pm. Okay to hold onto her that long?" Matt replied quickly.

"Yeah." She kept it shorter and simpler than an honest answer, but she figured she and Valerie could work on homework or something for several hours. She used to feel so lucky that they were out of class so early on Thursdays, but today it just felt like Valerie was slipping farther and farther from safety.

Slamming her car door, Denali sped off to intercept her friend at the mall.

* * *

Valerie scanned the glass walls of the mall as she approached the entryway. As her eyes came upon Shweetz Candy, her smile widened. "I could really use some sugar," she said to herself. The wind died down, and the clouds cleared from around the sun. In the late-summer heat, its rays bore down on Valerie, and she found herself starting to perspire. Taking the hint, she quickly continued inside.

She waved politely at the man behind the counter, who seemed to be baking some kind of brownies. She closed her eyes momentarily, wafting in the sweet, chocolatey aroma.

Her phone's vibration finally brought her back to focus. Denali was calling her again. Valerie smiled, a bit forlorn. She was grateful to have her caring friend back, but Denali almost seemed a bit too clingy. "Hello, hon. Miss me?"

"You're at the mall, right? Where should I find you when I get there?"

It was unusual for Denali not to greet her first, but she shrugged it off. "I'm at Shweetz. Are you driving?"

"Well, yeah. The candy store?" Denali seemed surprised.

"Don't crash because you were talking to me. See you here, bye." Valerie hung up again. She disliked cutting friends off during conversation, but after losing her father to a distracted driver, she was having none of that nonsense.

"You're a regular, ain't ya?" The voice of the man behind the counter had not been something Valerie was expecting. When she glanced over, he closed the oven door, which came crashing down again. "Damn it."

"Uh… yes," she replied. Apparently he'd recognized her from her many forays the last couple years.

The man reshut the oven. "I have to use the restroom. Do you mind watching shop for me?"

"Yeah, no problem," Valerie replied calmly, while still staring at the man like he was asking for her hand in marriage. He quickly left. "Yikes, good luck." She wandered over to the columns of jellybeans, pulling a bag from the wall. She pulled open the lever, letting delicious candies pour into her bag. When she was satisfied, she twisted the lever shut. It snapped off instead.

Jellybeans continued to pour out, overflowing her bag. "Oh, shit!" she said, grabbing for another bag. The first one toppled to the ground, spilling a majority of its contents. Thinking quickly, Valerie held the bag up around the mouth of the column. It was quite full, so she couldn't risk being slow. With one hand, she removed a hair tie from her ponytail and tried to roll it over the bag. Just as she seemed about to get it…

BANG! The oven door fell open again, creating a quick draft. A stack of papers on the counter fluttered over, landing at the open maw of the oven. After almost no time, they were aflame.

The sound surprised Valerie, and she jerked on the hair tie, snapping it. She grunted in frustration, crescendoing into a shout. Jellybeans toppled as she decided to move for the oven. A save of heat overcame her as flame belched from the oven. As she took another step, the beans beneath her gave away, and she fell sideways.

Her head cracked on the tile floor, not hard enough to knock her unconscious. Alas, she found herself unable to focus on anything through the pain. She slowly worked her way up to her knees, very unstable still. The fire had spread across the counter, licking farther and farther across the walls.

Valerie didn't even have the focus to scream. Her head throbbed, and she let out a long and miserable wail. She slipped forward again, feeling the jellybeans stick to her skin.


	6. The Plan

Author's Note: Did the end of the last chapter kill you because yikes good luck with this one.

* * *

Final Destination: Breaking Down

Chapter Six: The Plan

* * *

The sight of a lone firetruck at the mall was disquieting to Denali. In fact, it was almost worse than seeing a whole squadron, as if a fire at the mall was not something the department would take seriously. As she pulled in, she realized which entrance the firetruck was blocking.

 _Shweetz Candy…_ As much as the firefighters tried to hide it, the large scorch mark over the window was all-telling. Without a doubt, the store had been hit by the blaze.

"Oh, Valerie…" she said, high-pitched yet despondent. She pulled into a parking space and quickly dialed her friend. After half of a ring, she was sent directly to voicemail. With only a few soft tears, she dropped her head atop the steering wheel.

A small bird fluttered past the front of Denali's car, its strange song catching her attention. As she rubbed another tear from her eyes, she watched the tiny creature wobble across the sky.

* * *

When I saw Denali enter, I almost instinctively stood up to greet her. She was the last to arrive, thus bringing our silent basement crew up to ten members. "Jason isn't coming. I don't think he's happy with me right now…" I winced internally, recalling him blowing me off over text.

Then, I noticed she was alone. "Where's…"

"Dead." The word was little more than a breath, but I felt its sudden, icy impact on the air around us. Color seemed to drain from my vision, matching the dull, dumbfounded look that was hinted at by Denali's face.

"Mind telling us what this's about, then?" a man I didn't recognize asked. I glanced him over, determining him to be someone Denali had saved.

"Elrick," Denali answered, right on cue. "Everyone here should have died seventeen days ago when Charleston collapsed." The severity of the topic kept the room silent, giving her time to think. "But we're all alive here. Except for… some…"

Amy inhaled slowly. "Jori," she whispered.

"Denali, what's going on?" an Indian woman in a Phi Mu tee asked. The concern on her face left me torn between being endeared and anxious.

"You're all still here because Matt and I kept you from going to class that day, right? That shouldn't have happened," she continued.

"And the problem is…?" Riley asked. My eyes rested on him, and I tried so hard to keep my face from adopting a patronizing look of guardianship.

"Four of the people we saved are dead." My first words to the group should have head a tranquilizing effect, keeping them in a fearful, attentive state. But apparently I was not yet so charismatic.

"Are you serious right now?" The last guy to enter our elevator was indeed named Titus, and he was apparently the no-nonsense type.

"Jori had an accident at home…" I wasn't sure I'd have the emotional fortitude to continue reminiscing. I threw up my hand, gesturing vaguely in Denali's direction.

"The two of us saw Ben and Lucy get stabbed at a restaurant…" she said, clearly not having a much easier time than I. I grasped for the stress ball in my pocket, squishing it significantly and pressing my fingertips into my thigh. "And… Valerie got caught in a fire at the mall."

"What? Ben and Val are… dead?" the Indian woman whispered. Denali glanced at her and the man beside her, a short-haired Latino with smart, silver glasses.

"Those all sound like accidents to me," Elrick said.

Since Denali seemed to have no response, I took the chance instead. "Those are some very coincidental accidents. Don't you think?"

"Listen man, I… I think they onto something," Cameron admitted. "I almost got hit by a car today. Almost got splattered on the street. Euch." He shuddered once, as though to appear only slightly fazed by the incident. His eyes, however, told a different story.

"So… something's out to get us?" Sakura asked.

"But that makes no sense," Titus retorted. He rolled up one of his short sleeves, scratching along tattoo lines on his tricep. "Like, how are you saying Death or whatever goes about this?"

"Death itself is attacking us," Elrick mumbled, clearly in mockery.

"Ey, something must be," Titus answered, playing along. "What, can you tell me who's gonna be next? Some information we can use."

"This isn't something to joke about," Amy replied, sternly. Titus met her gaze and shrugged in surrender.

"Pablo," Denali whispered.

"Huh?" the Latino guy answered. I looked over to see Denali was still staring at him. At this time, her face had melted into simple fear, and sweat framed her eyes.

"Pablo. It's Pablo," she continued, not a decibel louder.

"I'm… what now?" he asked. His hand was on the Indian woman's shoulder for emotional support, but his attention rested entirely on Denali.

"You're next. B… Ben was the first one to die in my vision, then Valerie, and then Pablo." Denali's speech had picked up speed as she finished, increasing both in energy and apparent urgency. "Matt! Who died first in yours?"

I smirked, hoping Denali hadn't so easily forgotten that reliving my premonition was basically equivalent to having a panic attack. Alas, it seemed she was onto something important, so I imagined it again.

Jori, falling out of the crumbled wall. "Jori." Then we escaped the room, and someone tumbled in the hall. "Lucy." We ran for the staircase, and Cameron took his fall. "Cameron." My breathing and heart rate were markedly more rapid, yet I then understood.

"That's it! That's the order!" Denali seemed almost excited to figure out about the thing that was _killing_ us, but in all likeliness she was just relieved it was at least somewhat predictable.

"Uh, you saved me from kickin' it today, man," Cameron said. "So… am I still next?"

"No." I wasn't sure how I knew it, but it felt so… foreign, the idea that Cameron was in danger. My feelings about his safety from this morning had completely inverted.

"Then… who is it?" Riley asked. As much as he didn't want to admit it, I could see a trace of trepidation in his eyes.

I shut mine, trying to continue the premonition in my head. I saw it from the beginning to Cameron's death easily, but I felt moving on would be a struggle.

 _Sakura stands at the base of a flight of stairs, trying to beckon Amy and me down. The glass behind her shatters, and Jason rushes up to help her. He trips as he reaches the loft, and he falls forward. A torn piece of the metal window frame plows through his chest._

The memory stopped, and I gasped. I wasn't nearly as fucked up as when I actually saw it play out before me, but I was definitely getting there. "I..i…" _Shit, he's not here._ "It's Jason."

A clinking sound from across the room clutched onto my attention. A bit sloppily, I rushed over to see what had fallen. I picked up the perpetrator, a simple chain necklace, from the floor. A small locket it held was emblazoned 'J.H.' I knew this was nothing like his style, but it couldn't be a coincidence that the locket shared its initials with Jason Hickory.

In spite of my rational side, I dashed upstairs and away from the others.

* * *

Jason had originally intended to do what he usually did on Thursday nights - play video games with one of his fraternity brothers. Unfortunately, with his current mood soured by Matt's actions, he found himself unable to have a good time. To keep himself from dissolving into a rageful, counterproductive mess, he decided to take a long walk outside.

It was still clearly summer - the sun was still above the horizon well after 8 pm. He checked his watch, affirming this fact before wandering in a random direction down the sidewalk. He popped some headphones in, firing his phone up with music. Hearing an advertisement first, he frowned.

"Tired of craning your neck to- craning your neck to look down at your books?" the too-cheery voice said. The glitch caught Jason's attention, but he moved past it, continuing his leisurely walk.

I was lucky to spot him fairly close to campus, but he was still quite a way up the street. "Jason!" I called out. No response. I continued my jog in his direction, looking around for any sign of a chain.

I didn't spot one until I was closer. An abandoned crane loomed over the sidewalk, blending in with the twilit sky. Dangling from its chain was a small, boxy item. And he was about to walk right under it. Admittedly it didn't look too intimidating, but I couldn't take any chances.

"Jason!" I shouted again. Finally, he stopped and turned around. Upon seeing me, he pulled out an earbud. We weren't yet close enough to speak, but he'd stopped. Relaxing slightly, I slowed down…

...Just as he started walking again. _What in the hell is he doing?_ Regardless, I picked back up. As I neared him, he turned around once more.

"What are you doing here?" he said, accusatory and despairful.

"Jason, I'm so sorry, but you have to move," I said, possibly too quickly to be understood.

"Y-" A creak of metal cut him off. We both looked up to find the crane almost directly above us. With a whoosh of air and a whack of contact, the contents of the crane smashed into Jason's head, throwing him to the ground.

Blood splattered onto my chest. I started down at it, my shirt in line with Jason's body on the ground. I felt a scream tear through my lungs, but it refused to move through my throat. I was officially in shock.


	7. Connection

Author's Note: Hope you're all having a good time out there. I'm sorry I keep killing people at the ends of chapters, but it's such a great scene-ender, don't you think?

* * *

Final Destination: Breaking Down

Chapter Seven: Connection

* * *

Riley had been compassionate enough to join me at the police station that night, and I was extremely relieved. I could not try to deal with watching a close friend die on my own, especially when surrounded by people who were to question me. The questioning was fortunately briefer than I had expected, and it seemed pretty obvious to the police that the blame was upon whoever had left that crane upright over the sidewalk.

 _One mistake, and someone could be dead,_ I thought, somberly. I hadn't been crying for some reason, but my face did plenty to broadcast my despair. Riley cupped his hand around my shoulder, gingerly avoiding any of the bloodstains. "They're probably done here, bro," he said, softly.

"This is really happening, isn't it." It wasn't a question, so Riley didn't answer.

One of the officers who questioned me came out, probably to release us. "So, I hear tell you had a premonition a couple weeks back."

 _Oh Lord, please not this,_ I thought. "Y… yes," I replied. unable to determine what he was getting at.

"Well…" he paused for a moment, looking both ways down the hall. "Don't tell Boss about this, but… one of my buddies up north knows a lot about this sorta thing. It happened to him and his girlfriend, I guess. Several years back. I can give you his contact info, if ya want it."

I stared back, dumbfounded. That was the last direction I would have ever thought that conversation would go. "They're still alive?" I found it hard enough to believe anyone else had gone through what we had, let alone that they survived several years. The thought depressed me; somehow, I didn't feel the ten of us remaining would be so fortunate.

He seemed a bit taken aback by my response, but I supposed it was quite a non-sequitur. "Uh… yep. Here's his cell. And, you're free to go, sir. Thanks for your help." I smirked as he handed me a business card, trying to hide my contempt for being addressed by male terminology. I accepted it with a thankful nod, letting him return to his job.

Riley looked down at the card, intrigued, and then back up to me. He gave a slight nod, as if encouraging me to invert it. I did so, revealing an unremarkable black typeface on a simplistic white and blue background. "Officer Thomas Burke," I read, feeling my neck tingle as I did. Something was telling me he was indeed quite relevant. "I… I should call him."

"Hey! Hey," Riley said, putting a hand on each of my shoulders. "It's super late, and you've had a rough day. No one should have to see what you've seen." He looked away for a split second. "You ought to get to bed."

"R-right. I'll just… call him in the morning." And as Riley lead me to his car, I was ever so slightly grateful.

* * *

Denali's sleep was as caustic as usual, her night filled with repetitive visions of Charleston's collapse, now peppered with sights of Ben, his gaze so afraid and empty.

 _Valerie doesn't fall when I let her go. She remains held up by the torn-open ceiling of the next floor below._

" _Denali, we don't have time," Pablo says, pulling me to my feet and in the direction of the stairwell. I can just barely pull my gaze off of poor Valerie, but I begrudgingly give her one last goodbye. I hold onto Pablo's shoulder with one hand and wrap his waist with the other, entering the staircase._

 _Several panicked students and teachers are coming down from higher floors. I can see that Yvonne still has yet to join the downward flow of people. We shove forward as the crowed density starts to ease up._

 _Behind us, the glass wall that separates the stairs from the hall shatters. A student behind us turns back, presumably to help the girl who just shouted out. "Come on!" Pablo shouts at me._

 _As we keep running, the ceiling behind us thunders. A loose bar from high on the remaining wall comes tumbling, whacking Pablo's head right off. His blood splatters onto me and Yvonne, whose scream pierces the air all around me._

She awoke again, chilled but strangely relaxed. Although her vision was undeniable proof that Pablo was the next of her friends that Death was after, she had a few specific questions she wanted to address with Matt. Before she could, though, she wanted to make certain of one thing.

She would have to relive her entire vision.

Unfortunately, whenever she tried to sleep, she could only see the next person's death, and not a thing afterwards. So she would have to recall the rest of it from her memory two weeks ago.

 _Okay,_ she thought, _me, Elrick, and Yvonne._ For some reason, she couldn't remember seeing Elrick's death, and even her own was… a bit hazy. She remembered a chunk of cement splattering Yvonne, and Elrick sprinting downstairs, out of her sight. And then, in slow motion, she'd seen herself fall between the stairs, rotating as the air played with her long, flowing skirt.

Her memory of her own final moments was quite vivid, unfortunately. In those slow moments before she landed, she thought she saw Elrick's back, running away, outside of Charleston. The thought brought her to a peaceful conclusion, and she refrained from continuing the memory.

"Pablo's next…" she began. "Then Yvonne, then me." She debated calling Matt at 11:30 at night, but she decided to go for a text instead. "In what order did your friends die? After Jason," she said, remembering the guy Matt had run out to seek.

There was no reply.

* * *

I woke up the next morning relatively calmly and of my own accord. As I remembered the events of the previous night, my mood turned dark. I reached over to grab my cellphone from the nightstand on which it rested peacefully, stopping as I saw the business card beside it. That's when I remembered - I had to call this guy.

My arms began vibrating as I prepared to dial the given number. Talking on the phone was awkward enough when I had to do it with a good friend, but with a complete stranger it would be unquantifiably more stressful. And since he was in the police, he would probably be quite an intimidating guy, especially after cheating death several times, or whatever it was.

Tossing the sheet off only left me colder. I shivered as I slowly unlocked my phone. Before I could bring myself to call this guy, I noticed I had a text message from the period during which I was asleep. It was from Denali, so I definitely felt entitled to check it.

"What order," I read aloud. I hated to revisit such a massive chunk of the premonition, but I figured I could try to remember it without having a flashback. Jason had rushed up to save Sakura, so I knew she was right after him. Then it was just me and Amy. I hadn't seen her die, but she did stop responding, so it was a safe bet she had.

I prepared my response: "Sakura, Amy, then me." I waited a few seconds, frowning as I came to a realization. "No idea about Riley and Titus." I sent it, hoping for a speedy response. Denali must not have been awake yet, though, and eventually I had to return to the business card.

Slowly and shakily, I entered the ten digits into my phone, and with a prayer, I pressed the call button. It only rang twice. "Hello?"

"I-is this Officer Thomas Burke?" I asked.

"Who is this?" He was cautious.

"I'm sorry. I got your number from another police officer. I, uh… I had a premonition of a building on my campus collapsing, so I saved some of my classmates. And then, it happened," I explained. Ideally, he would know exactly what I was talking about.

"And the survivors have been dying?" he responded.

I exhaled deeply. "Yes." I could hear him sigh as well, followed by a muffled word. He must have been talking away from the speaker.

A female voice came over the line. "How far along is the list?"

"Uh… five are dead, and I intervened for one, so… nine of us are left," I responded, hoping I had counted right.

"Have you been looking out for any signs? Anything that seems in your face, ironic, something that hints at how the next person's gonna die," she explained. I was a bit put off by her directness, but at least she had gotten down to business.

"Y...yeah. The words in the soup I spilled, the… chain with Jason's initials…" It deeply hurt to recall the latter, but I was affirmed - these occurrences were not random.

"You have to watch them. Let all the others know, too. Anyone can look out for signs. Then you're a lot more likely to skip someone."

"What do you mean skip?" I asked.

"If someone's supposed to die, and one of the people on the list saves them, then they get skipped, and Death moves on to the next person," she answered, almost as if she were a textbook.

"Okay. So if we skip everyone left on the list," I asked, "is it over?"

The woman sighed. "No. The list'll just cycle back around." That wasn't the answer I was hoping for, but I wasn't particularly surprised.

"Then how can we stop it from…" I couldn't bring myself to finish the sentence.

"Only one thing has worked in any of the cases we've seen. It's actually what saved us back after the Route 23 pile-up. It's…" She stopped for a moment, to tell me this would be difficult to hear. "...if someone dies out of order."

"Oh," I responded, as if she'd just told me the weather. "Have you two uh… helped a lot of people in situations like this?"

"Just once," she replied. "There have been three other incidents like this since ours, but we were only able to help in one of them, since we were kind of directly involved. It's a long story, really…" She seemed as though she was her group's visionary. "I'm Kimberly, by the way." I could her a slight confoundation in her voice, as if she was strangely fascinated, and I felt it too.

"Matt," I answered. "Nice to, uh… meet you."

"If you have any more questions, feel free to call again." Kimberly shared her individual cell phone number with me, and we said our goodbyes. "Good luck," she said, her tone completely serious.

We were definitely going to need it.

* * *

"His name is Matt," Kimberly said, tossing Thomas' cell phone back to him.

"Matt…" Thomas replied, staring off at the ceiling.

"Something wrong?" _Apart from the news of the situation, of course,_ she thought. After their bouts with death, it was bitter to hear someone else had to go through it as well. Kimberly was just content that it didn't happen often. Matt said his group had included maybe fifteen people, five of whom were already dead, though. As optimistic as she always wanted to be, she figured there would be quite a bit more death.

Thomas didn't respond for several seconds. "I think I remember seeing the reports a week or two ago," he started. "A big group of college students escaped one of their campus' buildings before it collapsed. Two of them said they had visions of it beforehand. One was named Matt."

"Wait, two of them? Why didn't you tell me this before?" Kimberly asked.

"It's been weeks since it happened, and I haven't heard anything about any of the survivors dying," Thomas answered.

Kimberly shrugged, accepting the reply. There were plenty of freak accidents that people saved others from without it messing up Death's design. Those interventions were supposed to happen; those visionaries were gifted. But from what she'd just heard, Matt and the other visionary were cursed. He and his friends were still fated to die. "Where's this college?"

"About four hours south of here," Thomas answered. "Wait, what are you getting at?"

"They could use some extra sets of eyes and hands. Especially since we're not on the list this time. And we've got plenty of stockpiled vacation time," Kimberly answered.

"Kim…" His apprehensions wouldn't be news to her, so he kept them to himself.

"Listen, it sounds like they need guidance. And we are actually pretty close this time. You even gave me their distance in hours instead of saying a city name, Thom. You've clearly thought about this."

Thomas couldn't reply to that. With a resigned sigh, he lead the way to their bedroom, dragging a suitcase from under the bed.

"I hope you know what we're getting into."


	8. A Hard Bargain

Author's Note: This will be the finale to the first "act," if you will, of this story. Hope you enjoy the climax!

* * *

Final Destination: Breaking Down

Chapter Eight: A Hard Bargain

* * *

"Matt!" A shout from several yards behind me caught my attention. It was definitely Denali's voice, but she sounded rather excited. I whipped around, letting her catch up. "Listen, we need to talk about the remaining list."

"Uh sure," I replied. _Not the most exciting topic,_ I thought with an internal smirk. "I'm on the way to the dining hall; come on." I placed a hand on her shoulder for a few seconds.

"So you said next is Sakura, then Amy, then you, right?" she asked. I nodded once, letting her continue. "My question is, if you didn't see Riley or Titus die, did they run out of your view, or did you just not see them at all? I'm thinking it's possible they would either be after you on the list…" she trailed off, carefully watching as we used a crosswalk.

I rocked my head sideways a few times, tossing the idea around in my head. "That's possible. But I never even saw them in my premonition at all," I replied. "They weren't in my class, so I don't know."

Denali sighed quietly, letting silence drape over us as we walked to the dining hall. We separated for a few minutes, awkwardly rejoining after getting food. Her plate was piled high with ham, but she ignored my confused stare, cutting immediately into the first slice. "I really hate to ask you to have the full flashback again, since I know how stressful that is. And I don't know how much control you have over that, really. But, when I thought it through, I remembered something." She shifted in her seat, placing her forearms on the table and splaying her hands. "Right before I died, I saw Elrick running outside Charleston."

I raised my eyebrows, not saying a word. I'd hoped she would go ahead and tell me her conclusion instead of waiting for my input, so I remained silent, letting several seconds pass.

Eventually, she got the hint. "What I mean is, Elrick was never supposed to die in the accident." I had to admit, that was great news, and she seemed quite pleased with herself.

"So, he's not even on the list," I answered. _I wonder what that's like,_ I thought, snarkily.

"Exactly," Denali responded. "Which is why I asked earlier. The other possibility I thought of was that Riley and Titus might be off the list as well." I shrugged, hoping this to be the case but deeply doubting it. "Which reminds me of my next question." She had moved past her initial request for me to have the flashback, quite fortunately. "I think that it's not just the order they died in our visions. The list, I mean. It's the order we were supposed to die in the actual accident. So like, instead of Pablo being next on my list and Sakura being next on yours, only one of them is next on one big list. With all of us on it."

I gave her a slightly impressed look. "I guess that would make sense. Uh… okay, do you remember seeing any of us during your vision?"

Denali gave a sort of sad smile. "I think I saw your friend Jason running back up past us, right after a window shattered." I remembered the incident clearly, the misstep that cost dream-Jason his life.

"After Jason was Sakura, when that whole ledge got crushed," I replied. "Is there any chance you remember if that happened before or after Pablo died?"

She seemed to think furiously, and an arc of sweat broke out over her brow. "I…" She was quite committed to figuring this out, and I was a bit impressed, albeit concerned. "...No. I don't remember seeing her."

"You could have seen the ceiling fall over the loft. Or heard the loud rumbling, Amy's crying, or something?" I offered, hoping to console her.

"...Yes, actually. I think the beam fell because of the crumbling. So… then Sakura should be next overall," she concluded.

I heard a whirring noise from outside, and my head jerked to find the source. Instead, my eyes fell upon the ground, the mulch surrounding the little trees that bordered the windows. It swirled and danced about the ground, propelled by a wind I couldn't sense. The flashback came then, and I saw Sakura and Jason's body being pinned underneath the cement in crystal clarity.

"Matt, hey," Denali said, bringing me back to my senses.

My head quivered as I tried to steady my focus on her face. "Yeah. It's her."

"Have you seen any signs?" she asked.

"I… the mulch outside," I answered, weakly pointing out the window. "But I don't know what it means. She could get crushed by a tree? I don't know."

"Well, mulch is wood, right? Maybe she gets impaled on a wooden stake." A guy walking by our table turned to give us a shocked, disgusted look for a few seconds before walking off.

"He has no fuckin' idea," I laughed half-heartedly. "Well, whatever it is, we have to warn her." I reached for my phone, stopping after a second. "...I don't have her number. She never gave it to me at the meeting," I groaned.

Denali looked like she wanted to chide me for leaving the meeting without getting anyone's contact information, but she respectfully stayed quiet. She knew that I had to go. Fortunately, she was able to pull up Sakura's number on her own phone.

"Sakura, where are you right now?" she asked immediately. I couldn't hear the reply, but Denali was perceptive and kind enough to switch her phone to speaker.

"...that you?" Sakura finished.

"Yes. Yes, please, where are you?"

"Uh- I'm at Ace right now. Is something wrong?"

 _The hardware store._ I shared a knowing glance with Denali, who quickly replied. "LIsten, you need to be really careful around… wood, and gardening stuff, I think."

"O...kay," Sakura answered, sounding the tiniest bit freaked out. "B-bye."

"Bye," Denali whispered, hanging up.

"...Here we go again?" I asked.

"Do you have any more classes today?" Denali seemed hesitant to rush out, especially after how well our first joint operation went.

"No, but… if you don't think we can do this…" I offered, albeit quite poorly.

"Listen, can you stay here and look after Pablo? I'm pretty sure he's right after Sakura. He's in class now, and he's got track practice after. Can you… don't let anything bad happen to him, okay?" she asked, smiling yet tearing up slightly.

It broke my heart to say no, but I couldn't promise anything so important, and she knew that. "I'll do what I can. Good luck to you too," I replied, giving her a wave. She nodded a few times in understanding and then quickly made her way out of the dining hall and into her car.

I wasn't sure where exactly track practice was held, nor if I would be allowed in, but hopefully I could at least stand outside of where it was and warn Pablo. With a slight surge of determination, I walked back toward the center of campus.

* * *

Amy breathed in deeply, slowly approaching Riley at the library. She truly hated to admit that she needed help, especially to someone she didn't know extremely well, but she felt that he was a trustable sort. Besides, she didn't have much of a choice.

"...Riley, you're good at chemistry, right?" she asked, holding her textbook to her chest between white-knuckled fists.

Riley noticed she was shaking ever so slightly but decided not to comment on it. "Yeah, I guess. Do you n- eh, want some help?"

Amy nodded once, quickly. "Y-yes, if that's fine."

Riley had plenty of other homework to be doing, but he shuffled the work around on the table, hiding what he had yet to finish. "Yeah, sure." He patted the top of the chair beside him, and Amy graciously sat down.

After fifteen minutes of tutoring and checking Amy's answers to practice problems, Riley glanced at her. She'd gotten everything spectacularly correct. His gaze wasn't expressive enough to be read, which was fortunate for him, since he felt it to be a bit judgemental. "Amy," he said. "You did perfectly."

"Y..yeah?" she asked.

Riley angled his head minutely. "Is there anything else I can help you with?" His voice maintained a casual positivity in spite of his gaze, maintaining eye contact while Amy looked away.

"Y...yeah…" She looked even farther away, keeping her face entirely out of Riley's view. "Ever since Wednesday morning, I haven't been able to do my laundry," she whispered, barely perceptible. "O-or sleep."

"Hey. Hey," Riley said, standing to wrap her in his arms. The two stood still for several seconds. "Listen, I can get you into the fraternity house. There's a free-use washer and drier there. You wanna use that?" Riley could feel Amy's head nodding alongside his cheek. "Okay, great. Let's swing by your place and pick your laundry up."

Amy's house was very close to campus, so within fifteen minutes they were nearing their destination. All of the fraternity and sorority houses were in apartment-like complexes, with parking lots along a minor road a few miles from campus. At the entryway, the Greek Life Office kept a large bulletin board for relevant information. As they approached it, Riley asked, "What's Amy short for?"

Amy was a bit taken aback by the question, but she smiled faintly. "It's Amethyst," she answered. She turned to stare at a man at the bulletin board, nailing up a sign for Sigma Nu. Her uneasiness slowly returned.

* * *

The sun shone down brightly on the football field, and Pablo brought a hand up to block it as he stared into the sky. There were large, beautiful cumulus clouds, forming an expansive picture as his eyes turned them into creatures and flora in his mind. A smile came to rest on his face, before he was punched on the shoulder. "Hey," he said, annoyed.

"Come on, space cadet. We should be stretching," Yvonne said from beside him.

"I am stretching," he replied, tapping his temple with a mischievous grin.

"Stretch your _body_. My goodness; how'd you last on the team this long?" Yvonne joked.

"Longer than you. I have, ahem, experience," Pablo replied, one hand making a sweeping arc across the horizon.

"Experience being a nerd, maybe. A nerd whose 400 time is longer than my mile," Yvonne said with a snap.

"Them's fightin' words." Pablo finally began following along with the group's stretches. "Besides, we're at a tech school. You're an official nerd too."

"Do I get my nerd card? Oh, sorry," Yvonne said after knocking her arm against Pablo's shoulder.

"I'll find some way to pay you back," he replied, tugging at the collar of his Sigma Nu athletic tank.

* * *

Sakura had been feeling nervous since Denali's call, and she found herself increasingly surrounded by all sorts of wooden planks and rods. _Okay,_ she thought, _I don't desperately need anything here right now. Maybe I should just go._ With a small nod, she started walking quickly to the front door.

"Eep!" she squeaked as a woman bumped into her. The woman dropped a box of nails, a few of which clattered on the floor.

"Oh, pardon me," the woman said. Sakura was a bit too shaken up to reply, so she speed-walked past and approached the door again, gripping her jacket tight.

A crashing sound out front caught her, stopping her in her tracks. A large display out front had toppled, spilling ladders all over the entryway. Sakura was trapped inside, if she was to obey social convention. Alas, she slowly headed for the back of the store.

* * *

Pablo and Yvonne were running roughly side-by-side. Yvonne had pulled ahead a bit, trying to goad Pablo into going faster. "We're burning daylight!" she laughed.

"More like daylight is burning us," Pablo replied. "We have to save our energy. Practice only just started."

"Where's your water bottle?"

Pablo shrugged. "I can't remember, honestly. I think it's over by the field events." He pointed vaguely in the direction of the high-jump bar, which was flanked by shot-putters and javelin throwers.

"Well, come on; don't want to be getting dehydrated, do we?" Yvonne replied. Pablo shook his head in surrender and ran after her.

* * *

The back of the hardware store was larger than Sakura had anticipated, but no one seemed to be around to reprimand her. They must have all been distracted by the collapsing display; it looked like they'd left in a hurry. A few machines whirred as Sakura walked by, doing her best to avoid them.

A plank of wood sat high on a shelf, near a ceiling fan. It shuddered slightly with the breeze, inching forward, out of the shelf. As Sakura approached to pass by, she looked up and watched it tumble down. With a short scream, she leapt to the side, successfully dodging the catastrophe. She relaxed slightly, angling to lean against the wall to her side.

An upstart of whirring told her that it was _not_ a wall against which she was leaning, but a machine. A woodchipper. The mouth of it grabbed the flapping tail of her jacket, slowly pulling it into the shredding machine. She screamed again, this time loud and lengthy.

"Sakura!" The shout had come by the grace of God. As Sakura tried to unzip her stuck jacket, she shouted back. Around the corner came Denali, sprinting and leaping across the backroom like a professional traceur. "I got you!" She grabbed Sakura around the waist and tugged hard, tearing the jacket down a seam.

Sakura quickly spun to slip out of the jacket, falling to the ground in a fit of overzealous effort. Denali didn't say a word or make a move beyond placing a hand on Sakura's shoulder, waiting for the terror to wear off.

* * *

As I approached the athletic compound, I felt a stiff wind from the direction I was walking. Its chill overpowered the striking heat of the sun, as if warning me of the strong presence of death beyond me. Taking the hint, I bypassed entering the building and jogged around it instead.

I rounded the back corner, now face-to-face with a "Go Greek" banner from the beginning of the semester. It had been slightly damaged, a line segment torn through the letters of Sigma Nu and Phi Mu. I gave it a brief glance. _Pablo's a Sigma Nu,_ I thought, the drive to continue running reigniting.

"Matt?" The mature voice caught me as I started, freezing me instantly. _Am I not supposed to be back here? Shit, I gotta go!_ I looked to see who it was, utterly dumbfounded to see…

...Someone I didn't recognize at all? "Um…" A man and a woman, both in their late twenties, jogged after me. "I'm sorry, I'm kind of-"

"Matt, it's Officer Burke." _What?! What the hell are they doing here?_ I didn't know how he recognized me from afar, but that thought wasn't my main concern.

Fortunately, I didn't have to explain what I was about to say. "Someone's about to die!" I called out, honestly a bit loudly. I breezed toward the field, ignoring anything they had to say.

As I ran out onto the track, I saw it. The clouds cleared, projecting the sun directly into a javelin thrower's eyes. He threw obliquely, the spear flying toward the track. Without any time to think, I located Pablo, sprinting to tackle him to the ground. His water bottle splashed over the two of us as we fell.

Quite out of breath, I struggled to ask, "Are you… okay?"

"Matt? What the hell was that?" he asked.

"You… almost got… hit by a javelin," I answered. Satisfied that Pablo was safe, I looked back to see if Officer Burke and Kimberly had followed me. Indeed, they had. I was expecting them to come over and check up on Pablo and me, but instead they stared off to my left. Kimberly brought her hand up to cover her mouth. I rolled over to see why.

The javelin had indeed completely missed Pablo, from the looks of it. However, it had found another resting place, lodged in Yvonne's chest. She stared blankly ahead in abject fear, so reminiscent of Ben it sickened me. After a few miserable seconds, she tumbled backward.

* * *

END OF ACT ONE


	9. Holding Up

Author's Note: And now, we begin the second act of the story. Time for more rising action, am I right? But perhaps it's more accurate to say that Final Destination is entirely made of rising action, to be honest.

* * *

Final Destination: Breaking Down

Chapter Nine: Holding Up

* * *

Our second group meeting was again ten people, but this time with Kimberly and Officer Burke in place of Yvonne and Elrick. Officer Burke had been kind enough to inform everyone of what happened to the former, and it seemed pointless to invite the latter if he wasn't on the list. He seemed rather stoked to hear the news, but I was fairly certain he still didn't believe all of this death stuff.

Denali looked like she was feeling exceptionally anxious. She was sitting on a couch beside Pablo, but there was just enough space between them to prevent contact. I figured she was grateful that he was still alive, but she seemed to be feeling guilty about Yvonne. I wasn't certain, but I thought I detected a hint of animosity directed toward me. There was pretty much no chance for me to know Yvonne was in immediate danger as well, but I felt it wasn't my place to say that to Denali.

Since no one else was raring to start the conversation, Kimberly spoke first. "Okay, is there anyone here who isn't convinced that Death is really coming after you all?"

I didn't expect anyone to answer in the affirmative, since almost all of us had either seen someone die or almost died themselves.

Almost all of us. Titus didn't speak, but his hand slowly rised. The rest of us gave him a slew of looks, varying from Kimberly's almost condescending pity, to Sakura's exasperation, to Denali's stare that hinted of enraged disgust.

"Well, get convinced. Six of your friends are dead, and if it weren't for Matt and Denali, you all would be, too," Officer Burke replied. "Like it or not, you're in this for the long haul, until you can find a way to beat it, or die."

"Always a smooth talker," Kimberly mumbled at him. He gave her a smirk that seemed, well, boyfriend-ish, letting her continue. "Now, this is something you can beat, but you have to be watching out at all times. Constant vigilance," she said, ensuring she made eye contact with everyone in the group. "You have to trust your instincts. If a situation feels wrong, it probably is. There are always signs about how the next person should die."

"Wait, should?" Riley asked.

"Right," Kimberly answered quickly. "Just because you see signs that the next person is gonna be, I don't know, crushed by a pane of glass…" She instantly regretted offering that example, remembering a death she hadn't been in time to intervene. "It doesn't mean it has to happen. If you can interpret the signs, you can be there to save whoever's next and skip them on the list."

"Can we not skip ourselves?" Amy asked, fumbling with a hairband in her hands.

"...No, I don't think so," Kimberly said, scratching her eyebrow. "It's sort of like… Death can account for your actions in your fate. If you dodge something headed for you, it always has something else that your dodge will fling you towards.

"It's the intervention of another person, someone else whose actions you can't predict, someone who can't die before you, that saves you. You would have ridden your bike into the street and gotten crushed, if it wasn't for someone pulling you to safety. You would have gone to class and been killed, if it wasn't for someone warning you of an impending accident." Kimberly seemed to be waxing poetic.

"Damn it, why does this have to be happening?" Titus called out. "I didn't even have class in Charleston then!"

"...What?" I asked, not fully of my own volition.

"You saw me," Titus replied, wiping his face with a sleeve of his T-shirt. "I was on my way outta there when I ran into you."

"If we weren't in the way…" I said, softly, "...you would have left the building…" I could feel myself beginning to dissociate from full awareness.

"Damn right," he answered, then dropping his forehead into one of his palms.

 _I'm… not in this flashback. It's definitely at Charleston, but… this is before the accident starts. Oh, Titus is leaving class, and now he's waiting for an elevator. People are slowly leaving one… and there's me, looking quite paranoid. Riley claps me on the back, and…_

 _The exchange is cut off by the elevator door closing Titus in. It reaches the ground floor without incident, and he casually strolls out the back entry, headed for the computer lab._

 _He doesn't hear Charleston rumble until he's already across the street._

I snapped out of it when Riley put a hand on my shoulder. "Matt?"

"What did you see?" Kimberly asked, dead serious.

"Titus…" He looked up to me, not quite reaching eye contact level. "He… he wasn't supposed to die." I wasn't sure why I was so stressed after seeing such a docile scene, but the news was at least positive. "Just like Elrick. I… I was following his point of view and… he wasn't even close…" Titus clearly wanted to look relieved, but he restrained his emotion, as if trying to keep up his appearance of skepticism. To be honest, I expected him to go ahead and check out, but he stayed still.

"What about Riley?" Denali asked.

"What about me what?" Riley countered, moderately concerned to be brought up.

"I don't know…" I replied, disappointed in myself.

"Matt. What about me what?" he asked again, putting his other hand on my remaining shoulder.

I couldn't look him in the eye. "I don't know when you were supposed to die," I weakly answered. "I don't know where you are on the list."

"What order, exactly, is this list in, anyway?" Sakura asked.

"The order you all were supposed to die in the accident," Kimberly answered, as though she was always this on-the-ball.

"I mean, um, what order are we in at this point?" Sakura stated.

"I don't know when Riley and Denali die, relative to everyone else, but it's Amy, then me, then Cameron, Sakura, and Pablo," I replied.

"Riley and I have to be somewhere before Cameron," Denali said, scratching her temple nervously.

"So there are…" I waved my fingers about in the air. "...twelve possible lists right now." _Well, shit._

"How are we supposed to know who's next?" Amy asked. She was likely thinking it was her.

"I… we usually just kind of… know. Like, I'll get a flashback of them in my head a short while before they're in danger."

Amy exhaled, slightly exasperated. "Sorry, but that's not good enough for me. How will _I_ know?"

"You feel… wrong," Kimberly answered, looking downward and shaking her head as though to jog her memory. "You feel like the things you're doing shouldn't be getting done, like… like the universe is being irritated by you still having an effect on it…" She ceased then, a tear coming to her eye.

A tiny part of me wanted to ask if anyone in the room had that feeling, but it seemed quite analogous to depression, and that was nothing I wanted anyone to feel obligated to share.

"Those of you who haven't exchanged numbers yet, do so now." Officer Burke thankfully broke the despairful silence. "We all need to look out for each other. Try not to be alone if you're anywhere close to being next. Kim and I'll be sticking around for help, as long as we can."

"Are you gonna like, follow us to class and stuff?" Pablo asked. "I can't see that not being suspicious." He stretched his arm as if making to pat Denali's shoulder, but he decided against it.

"Unless some of you have classes together or something. We can't risk leaving someone trapped," Officer Burke said.

"Besides, it's the weekend, right?" Kimberly glanced to Officer Burke, who checked his watch and nodded once. "So we can all be on the lookout."

"I think we're fine for tonight," Denali said. "I haven't seen any signs or anything, so why don't we all just… get to sleep and reconvene tomorrow?" Accepting this, Titus nodded and quickly exited, but the rest of us waited, hoping to hear Kimberly's judgement.

"Okay. But Amy, Riley, be extremely careful," Kimberly answered. She didn't seem worried about Denali, but it was pretty clear that a visionary would be extra cautious.

Uncomfortably slowly, others filed out, leaving behind only Kimberly and Officer Burke, who were quietly discussing something with each other, and Riley and me. "Hey, Matt, since I… you know, could be next… I don't think I feel safe at Lawton." I remembered living on-campus at Lawton last year and couldn't blame him. "Do you mind if I take the open room on your floor at the house?"

"Nah, that's fine," I answered, trying to offer a comforting smile. He nodded back, then looking to the ground. He looked so calm, yet so fearful, the likes of which I hadn't seen since… well, ever. My fear was always frantic and energetic, wearing me out at the end of the day, but his looked like it was sucking the life out of him. I clapped him on the shoulder then, admittedly harder than I was intending. "We can head out if you're ready."  
"Hey, Matt." Officer Burke's call wrestled my attention away from Riley. He was quite a handsome man, with his strong face and calm demeanor. I found myself staring as he asked, "Do you know of anywhere cheap we can stay? We forgot to book a hotel." He frowned slightly.

"Uh…" One doesn't generally scout the area around their campus for hotels, especially not over the course of one year. "The only place I know that's open right now is a spare room at the house, but…" I looked back at Riley, who scratched at his sideburn.

"No, they can have it…" he said, dejectedly.

"Riley…" I whined. "Hey, there's plenty of space in my room. I got your back." This appeared to work, and his mood lifted.

"Cool," Officer Burke replied. "Uh, we'll follow you there?"

After a ten minute drive, we pulled into the parking lot. Riley had denied any need to go home and get anything before spending the night, so we casually walked up to the second floor of the apartment-like building, letting Kimberly and Officer Burke in behind us.

"Yo," Reggie said, greeting us from the kitchen. He nodded at me and Riley, then glancing blankly at Kimberly and Officer Burke. "...What's up?"

"Oh, not much," I said. _Oh god, why is this so awkward?_ I thought, internally shaking my head.

"I'm Kimberly," she introduced, trying to break the uncomfortable air.

"Thomas," Officer Burke followed. Reggie introduced himself as well, then turning back to cooking. Kimberly widened her eyes at Officer Burke, also suffering under the pressure of how fucking awkward this was.

Reggie poured some oil from a prismic bottle into the pan, a few drops splashing up onto his shirt. "Aaah," he shouted, comically. A chill ran down my spine. _Burning? Splashed with acid?_ I thought, trying to interpret this as a sign. I wasn't sure how I knew it was a sign, but it wasn't worth risking. Riley could have been in danger, and I felt obligated to get him away from whatever Reggie was throwing into his large, heated pot.

"I-I'm kinda hungry too. You guys w-wanna go get some burgers? Or something." I hoped that Kimberly might catch the hint in my voice, and that Riley might not.

"Yeah, that sounds good, actually. We can all take my car," Kimberly replied. _God bless._ Riley and Officer Burke seemed casually enthused as well, so we all filed out.

A drop of hot oil jumped out of the pot, landing on Reggie's arm. "Ow! Damn it," he called out, brushing at his arm in frustration.


	10. Fallout

Author's Note: I know how much you guys hate deaths and love plot, so I hope last chapter was a good one for you. And, of course, get ready for more PLOT! Who needs death when you have characterization? But seriously, I really do hope I characterize everyone well enough that when they do die, it causes you as much distress as it does me. Um, no offense.

* * *

Final Destination: Breaking Down

Chapter Ten: Fallout

* * *

Cameron rolled over in his bed, throwing his arms out sideways. One banged against the wall, and he flinched in surprise. He stared blankly at the clock on the desk across the room, feeling every minute tick by, chipping away at his day, his energy, and his life.

He recalled the event, only the morning of the day before, where he had nearly died. That incident majorly drew his attention to how he'd spent so much of his life just going through the motions, drifting into and out of relationships, hovering around in athletics. Basketball wasn't even a major part of his life. Well, it might have been, but it sure wasn't anymore, especially after a heart-shifting realization.

Life was frigidly, agonizingly short. And to date, Cameron couldn't think of anything he'd done that he'd want to leave as his legacy. Thus, he'd spent the entire day plotting. _How can I change the world?_ That thought had been his favorite phrasing of his intentions. Perhaps he would draw an elaborate picture, a profoundly deep and subtle masterpiece that brought a tear to the eyes of its observers. He'd gotten excited at first, planning to skip Friday practice and spend hours working on it.

The ideas in his head were wild, energetic, ultimately intangible. He could splash a wild orange curve across the page, but it was so flat, so immobile, so lifeless. Someone admiring it couldn't see the pride and zeal he'd wished into it.

So he'd gone to practice instead. His footwork was as swift as always, and his coach tossed him the occasional compliment, as per usual. He signed a few times, during the early minutes of practice, but he found it an inaccurate expression of his contempt at the day.

The hours faded into a rhythm of dribble, pass, catch, shoot, dribble, pass, catch, shoot… Each motion brought his mind deeper down into a gray that lacked focus, joy, and motivation. He found himself alone at one side of the court, the rest of the small team running to the far basket. From his daze, he continued after them, catching up quickly. With a slap, he found he had the ball. _Easy,_ he thought. He set himself up for a shot, then feeling its futility sink him. He passed to a teammate.

After the point, he was approached by another teammate. "Man, what's goin' on in your head? You're lookin' out of it."

"Aah, it's nothing, bro," Cameron replied, weakly waving his hand as if to dismiss any concerns.

"You lookin' so bored, man. So dull. You're usually dancin' across the court, bro. Like the rhythm of the game is in you. That's beautiful, bro," the teammate replied.

A smile spread across Cameron's face slowly. "Yeah. It is." He stood still for a few seconds. His teammate gave him a confused look, then finding himself being pulled into a quick hug. "Thanks, dawg," Cameron cheered, running out of the gym.

"...I guess he could use a break," the coach shrugged.

Cameron spent ten minutes clearing space in his living room and setting up a video camera on a tripod in the corner. Being extremely careful to contain the entirety of the room in the camera frame, he inhaled and exhaled deeply, then stepped slowly into view.

"What's up everyone; this is Cameron Lawrence. I want to tell you guys a little story and show you somethin' I been working on. I hope you like it."

After recording the video, he pulled the memory card and tumbled into bed, where he remained. Filming had been extraordinarily revitalizing to him, but he felt his heart sink back slowly as he lied around. Sighing with a hint of a groan, he threw the memory card at the clock, and it clattered on his desk.

The clock blinked immediately after, changing to 11:04 pm. Cameron had a long night ahead of him.

* * *

I found myself staring at my watch for a solid minute as time ticked on. It was a wonder we'd found a place that would be open until 1 am; I wasn't sure when I'd be comfortable going back to the house, but it was unlikely to be within the hour. We had looked around upon entry, moderately surprised to find there were still quite a few people around. To be fair, we were also around, so it was hard for me to judge people for their lateness.

I seemed to have been staring at the menu for a long time after finishing staring at my watch. To be honest, I was expecting there to be some kind of sign on the menu, if I was right that cooking was involved. I was sort of anxious even to have us go to a restaurant, but it was ideally safer than doing our own cooking directly before ourselves.

"What are you gonna get?" Riley asked casually.

I was only partially hungry. I was still lowkey stressed out, and the thought of food passing through my stomach was somewhat discomforting, but on the other hand, I definitely required it if I was to continue surviving. "Who knows," I answered, noncommittally.

"This barbecue ranch burger looks amazing," Officer Burke added.

"Yikes, cholesterol much?" Kimberly joked. Riley looked on with amusement as the two continued their banter, but I kept my focus on the menu. _I really should just pick something…_

When the waiter came around, I settled for ordinary chicken strips. I lazily spun them around in the tiny ketchup bowl, admiring the reflections of the ceiling's light bulbs in the sauce. Riley had been tossing conversation around, and Kimberly especially seemed glad to participate. Officer Burke was more like me, quiet and watching. Not that I was paying a lot of attention, but that was rather abnormal for me, at least around friends. Then again, I'd only known Riley for a couple of months, and I didn't know the first thing about Kimberly or Officer Burke.

My eyes must have glazed over, since Kimberly stopped. "Matt, you okay over there?" I was worried she'd thought I was having another vision, but she appeared relaxed, so I assumed not. Her gaze was sort of a knowing one, as though she could see the visionary in me so clearly from only the way my eyes wander.

"Yeah, I was just… hoping to hear more about the two of you," I replied, pointing at her and Officer Burke with my pinky and index finger.

"Like what?" she laughed, looking away uncomfortably.

"Oh, I don't know…" I tried to think of something positive. "How about how you two met?"

Officer Burke's face took on a serious tone. "That was the day of the pile up on Route 23," he answered quietly. _Oh no_.

"He took us all in for questioning, right after I saw three of my friends die in the crash." Kimberly's face was saddened as well, but she seemed to have come to peace with her past. "After the first death, he was my go-to for support in trying to save everyone else. He and I were the only ones who survived, though."

She looked over to Officer Burke, who placed a hand on her thigh and loving stroked it with his thumb. "She saved my life, and I saved hers," he followed.

"What do you mean?" Riley asked, leaning in as if hoping for an amazing and romantic story. Kimberly glanced at Officer Burke with an expression that wanted to keep certain things private. He got the message and said nothing, smirking and waving his eyebrows in response to Riley.

"How about your favorite colors?" I asked, trying to lighten the mood.

"Teal," Officer Burke answered quickly.

"Excellent choice, Officer Burke. Same here," Riley replied.

"You guys can just call me Thomas." He waved his hand and looked back to Kimberly, who was still thinking, a wistful look in her eye. _That's the visionary in her,_ I thought with a sad smile.

She took a deep breath. "Light yellow. Like, whitish yellow, not neon. I don't know if you know crayon colors, but I love canary. It's like, the light of the rising sun, blessing you with another day." I let my lips curl into an enamored smile. _Now_ that _is the kind of answer I was looking for._

We finished a short while before midnight and figured we ought to make haste for the house. The car was alight with chatter from its newly-revitalized passengers, until we pulled to a stop at a red light. I glanced over at a nearby building, which featured several paper shapes dangling from an upper-level balcony. They must have been a child's work. My eyes came to rest on a simplistic human silhouette. It danced in the sudden wind, its string then snapping. As it fluttered to the ground, the stoplight turned green.

The other three showed no signs of noticing I'd checked out of the conversation until we made it back to the house. Reggie must have finished cooking, as the kitchen had been abandoned. "Come on; let's get to sleep," Thomas said with a stretch. I inhaled sharply, falling back into yet another flashback.

 _I'm hanging from the stair rails, gripping tightly out of panic when I realize. Amy cheers me on from the half-flight beside me, now roughly at my height. Before I can muster up the motivation to follow her instructions, the ceiling crumbles. I grip the railing tighter as more debris comes thundering down. Amy's cries go silent._

"What did you see?" Kimberly asked, already standing before me. "Who is it?"

"...Amy," I replied as soon as I could bring myself to speak.

"Where does she live?" Thomas asked, slipping his shoes back on. I gave a few quick directions, and he seemed to recall seeing the building I described. "Listen; you stay here with Riley. Kim and I'll go watch out for her." Kimberly was right on board, and seconds later, they were gone.

"Not to be insensitive," Riley chimed, "but… after Amy, is it me?" He tried to look me in the eyes, but I couldn't bring myself to make the contact.

"Or Denali," I answered. I could hardly handle the thought of either of the two dying, not after how important to me they'd recently become. I glanced at my watch, hoping that Kimberly and Thomas were being successful. "We can still save everyone," I mumbled, mostly for Riley's sake.

* * *

Unable to keep herself asleep in bed, Amy had risen shortly before midnight. She sat on the edge of her mattress for a few minutes in an attempt to decide how best to spend her time. Coming up with nothing, she decided to head downstairs to cook some late-night dinner.

 _Did I not eat dinner?_ she thought, pausing at the top of her staircase. She didn't. With a disappointed sigh and a renewed vigor, she jogged downstairs and into her kitchen. Quickly, she filled a pot with water and set it to boil.

The sound of the oven, gently whirring with heat, was somewhat relaxing but also rather monotonous. As the pot began to bubble, the sound was almost anesthetic, so she quickly dashed to her room for her iPod, hoping to keep her energy up with music. As she jogged back down the stairs and over to the kitchen, she cursed. Water was bubbling over the top of the pot.

She quickly shot her arm out to turn down the stovetop, scratching a finger open on the side of the dial. The water calmed, but Amy did not. "Damn it!" she shouted, looking at her finger. She clamped a clean dishrag around it, jogging back upstairs to her bathroom. Walking past a banister to the room, she let the dishrag fall.

With her unhurt hand, she dug around in her cabinet, trying to find some bandages and a bottle of hydrogen peroxide. She found the bandages first, so she pulled them down and plopped the box on the sink below. The bottle of hydrogen peroxide was in the back, and some pink liquid had coagulated around the bottom of it. A soft tug on the bottle proved worthless. "Oh, damn it," Amy said, preparing to pull again.

The second yank was more forceful, and it was successful. The cap of the bottle had not been completely affixed from her previous use, it seemed, and it tipped, sloshing forward from the high cabinet. A few drops sprayed into Amy's eyes, and she shouted out in surprise. As the peroxide sent a burning sensation through her eyes, she screamed and jumped back, into the hallway.

Kimberly and Thomas had just pulled in at Amy's driveway. "We'd better hurry," Kimberly said, being hit with a foreboding breeze.

Thomas checked his watch as he knocked on the door. "Amy?" he called. The time ticked forward to 12:06, and he prepared to knock again. Then, a scream rang from within the house.

"Amy!" Not sparing a second to think, Thomas banged into the door with his shoulder. The door remained steadfast. "Come on!" he shouted to himself, trying again.

The sounds of her door being racked frightened Amy, who was already panicking. She recognized the shouts as Thomas', but as the door broke open, she couldn't see to make sure. She threw her foot back to stabilize herself as she turned but instead stepped on the dropped dishrag. Slipping forward, she bumped into the banister and tumbled over it. Her scream died off when her neck snapped on the floor below.

Thomas wrapped Kimberly in his arms then, turning her back to the front door and pulling out his cell phone to call the police.


	11. A Slow Morning

Author's Note: Did someone say MORE PLOT? To be quite honest I'm a little bit despairful about killing Amy... so enjoy this MORE plot!

* * *

Final Destination: Breaking Down

Chapter Eleven: A Slow Morning

* * *

Riley sat beside me on my bed as we absent-mindedly watched whatever was on TV at midnight. I wasn't too sure what was going on, using a majority of my brainpower instead on hoping Amy would be okay. As casual as we were, I genuinely cared for her and could imagine the two of us in the future, as better friends who spread nonbinary visibility and take absolutely zero bullshit. She only seemed to slip into my life when I was overstressed, and I was always so grateful.

A wave of navy blue washed over my heart as I kept along this train of thought. For all the emotional support Amy had given me, I had almost never made her a priority. To be fair, I never really saw her around, and she never told me when she was having problems, but the least I could have done was tell her that her mental well-being was important to me. Thus, I vowed to pull her aside and tell her when next we spoke. I imagined a momentary look of surprise, followed by a deep, feeling hug, and I felt a touch of my despair melt away.

"You good, man?" It wasn't until Riley talked that I realized I'd been zoning out hardcore. I knew I wasn't focusing on the TV, but it seemed that I'd allowed my head to roll back, and it was millimeters from coming to rest against the wall.

Some of my snarkiness rekindled from my earlier mental hug, so I responded: "I am an endless void of exhaustion and despair." I capped that off by letting my head fall back those last few hair-widths, rocking it and closing my eyes.

Riley laughed then, a bit more enthusiastically than I'd expected. "You know, that's the first time I've seen you being humorous in the last three weeks." It had never occurred to me that I was being permanently serious since the accident, but I figured I was obligated to when people still had their lives on the line. After Kimberly and Thomas saved Amy, next would be Denali or Riley. I supposed it could have been me, but for whatever reason I thought it was likely one of them, and I trusted my gut.

I looked back at Riley, realizing I hadn't heard his most recent sentence. _Dude, focus,_ I thought sternly to myself. "Uh… what was that?"

He sighed in response. A faint hint of a sad smile told me he was getting rather tired of me not paying attention to anything whatsoever. He stood to stretch his legs and replied, "You've barely smiled since the accident. You wear your fear like a hat, dude. It's sort of a relief to see you smile again."

"I haven't been depressing everyone around me, have I?" I asked, unfortunately slipping the serious mask back on.

"No. Most of them can do that themselves." He looked down. "The imminent death has been really tough on all of them, especially when they've been losing friends."

I smirked. "Not you, though?"

"Of course I have too. It's just…" He stopped for a few seconds, building himself up to speak again. "It still doesn't feel real, ya know? It's like I'm watching this movie, except it's my life." He inhaled and exhaled quickly. "I'm not too used to getting attached to people after the way I was treated back in public school. Kids were pretty cruel, ya know? And there was nothing the school's faculty was gonna do. Too much effort, right? Bullies are people too, right?"

I didn't want to respond, hoping he'd continue to relieve himself of the weight upon his heart. I put a hand on his shoulder for emotional support, and he sat back down.

"So. Then my grades started to slip, and then my parents got pissed off. I mean, more than they already were. They couldn't be bothered to do anything for me more than necessary to keep from being in trouble, I guess. So… scholarships here! My grades were good enough in the end, and I managed to get involved in a few clubs somehow… But I don't think anyone from high school really misses me. And I don't think I miss any of them either." Riley nodded a few times as though to convince himself.

I sat still for a few moments, not sure how to respond. _Don't fuck this up, Matt._ "...So, do you…" Unable to word the thought, I stopped.

"Basically, coming to an open-minded college atmosphere has finally let me actually make friends. Sort of. Like… I'm working on empathy and that stuff, but it's been a while. I figured I'd be back up to it in a year or two, but…" He scratched his temple, looking away. "If I'm probably gonna die…"

I resolidified my grip on his shoulder, and he looked back up at me. "Riley. I promise I'll do anything I can-"

A hearty triple-knock on the front door stopped me. "They're back," Riley said, reforming eye contact. I held it for a second before dashing over, opening the door before it could be knocked again.

Kimberly's face greeted me, albeit unpleasantly. "Where's Thomas?" I asked.

"At the police station," she replied, looking away. _Amy's dead._ The realization was quick and silent, but it was enough. "We didn't quite make it."

I could only respond with a nod, wanting to tell her it was okay and that she'd done what she could, but I wasn't able. I just kept on nodding, turning away and heading back to my room.

"I'm gonna wait up for Thom. You should get to sleep," Kimberly told Riley behind me.

"Y-yeah. Good night," he replied, distantly following me and shutting the door. I sat still, rock-solid in my desk chair, allowing him to take the bed.

When he fell asleep, I turned out the light, sitting back at the desk.

* * *

Sakura laced up her tennis shoes quite slowly compared to her usual morning. She hadn't struggled to sleep the night before, but resting had not exactly been easy. Most mornings she just hovered around the house, tending to her herb garden or sweeping the floor or something. Alas, this morning she felt a strong urge to break free from her calm, quiet life, if only slightly.

Stretching quickly, she made her way out of her front door. She locked it smoothly, looking back and forth a few times. A light gasp of wind came over from beside her, so she decided to follow its lead. She jogged calmly, slipping headphones on and strapping her iPod to her arm.

The sun shone, respectfully covering itself with a few puffy clouds. The early morning air was peaceful, resounding only with faint winds and gentle birdsong. Sakura revelled in the serenity of the atmosphere for several seconds before finally turning on her music.

The first song from her shuffled playlist to greet her was Amanda Marshall's "Dizzy." It was quite an interesting alternative song, and Sakura had first fallen in love with it after hearing from a friend that it was reminiscent of Alanis Morissette. She couldn't remember which friend had told her this, but she was always grateful to be introduced to new music.

Stress kneaded itself slowly from Sakura's body as she took step after step, starting to lose herself in the music. Alas, she resisted the urge to simply shut her eyes and feel the beat ricocheting in her head, knowing her attention was necessary for her safety. Thus, she ensured that she kept in motion, kept her heart rate elevated, to hold herself over until she could head back home and crawl back into a quick nap. She'd forgotten how tired running actually made her, especially in the morning, but a small portion of her enjoyed the slight discomfort. _Breaking barriers, mind, body, and soul,_ she thought rhythmically, pulling herself into an amused grin.

As she reached the peak of her exercise's intensity, she looked around and noticed she had gone quite a distance, unprecedented for her. She looked around rapidly, attempting to locate the quickest route home. Seeing another jogger she thought she recognized, she decided to trust his judgement and ran in his direction. He was actually quite swift, and Sakura had to overcome quite a challenge to even catch up to him. She didn't want to look winded when she caught up, though, so she slowed to catch at least some of her breath.

"Oh, hello." _Well, there goes the surprise._

She spent a few seconds building up more oxygen. "Hey, Pablo. Fancy meeting you here."

"How long have you been following me?" he asked.

"..." Sakura shrugged. "Three minutes? I didn't think you'd be so hard to catch up with." With a rapid exhalation, Pablo brought the crew to a walking speed.

"I've never seen you out jogging here before," he stated. "Or at all, really. Do you do this often?"

Sakura shrugged again. "Not often. And I've never been this far from home, really. But… I think this is the fastest route." She pointed forward, not really having any idea if she was correct. "Should be like a twenty minute jog."

"Alright then," Pablo replied. He loudly patted his thigh a couple of times. "Let's go." With that, he sped up again. Sakura's eyes widened slightly in surprise, but she smiled and took off after him, ready to engage in some more friendly banter.

* * *

The clatter of Denali's phone hitting the floor jolted her fully awake. She hadn't actually been asleep that night, but she remained in a dreary, useless state. She desperately wanted to sleep, but she knew what would greet her mind's eye as soon as she did - her vision of her own death. She hadn't actually quite made it that far; her vision ended a fraction of a second before she hit the bottom of the stairwell. Alas, she couldn't bear to see that happen to herself.

Thus, as her time was coming, she was slipping into hyper-cautious mode, observing every aspect of her surroundings to watch for any signs of her supposed fate to come. _Or anything that could actually be about to kill me,_ she'd thought with a quiet scoff. Figuring herself safest in her bedroom, she'd locked herself inside it immediately upon returning home. Bree seemed a bit upset to have been ignored, but Denali explained it away by saying she had to finish an online quiz that night. She didn't care to lie to her friends, but it was significantly easier than telling them even half of what was going on.

It only took roughly fifteen minutes to rid her room of most dangers; her office supplies were tucked in a deep drawer, her floor was immaculate, and her vents were completely cleared. She'd even considered duct taping over the electric sockets, for lack of plastic plugs, but she didn't want to imagine paying the school for their removal in the future. After that fiasco, she flopped atop her bed, unable to bring herself to do anything productive.

While she did end up using her e-reader for a majority of the night, several hours ticked away elsewise, being spent staring at the simple solar system model that hunger in the center of her room, around the heavily-dimmed light. The little planets had been hung by Georgia as a joke, but Denali kept them up, always a good sport. She'd never admit she found it quite soothing, staring at the little plastic representations of celestial bodies and imagining what it could be like to visit them. When life got particularly aggravating, she would even picture herself flying away, landing on a solitary, mystical world with all of her Earthly problems quite far behind her. Her longer forays into these daydreams could get lonely, but she was usually left with a feeling that her problems, in the grand scheme of the universe, were not life-ruining and could indeed be succeeded over.

It was this sensation she'd been hoping for as she laid her eyes on the model again, focusing first on the slow rotation of Venus. "It's hot there," she mumbled to herself, a simplistic sentence to bring her brain down from the complexity of her day. _Being there would burn me alive._ The thought was unwelcome yet reverberated around in her head, sprinkling bits of hopelessness over her mood.

"I wish I could fly away from this…" she whispered. Being pursued by Death itself felt inescapable, loose from the Earthbound nature of every other struggle she'd faced. She felt it in the air like a cloud of smoke, a poisonous aura that violently blew around her. She wondered if it followed her around visibly, coloring everyone's view of her as she passed by.

So when her phone clattered on the floor that morning, she figured it was about time to distract herself. Suddenly ignited by an idea, she pulled her laptop onto her bed and began digging through the university's resources. Her goal was to find out which classes the deceased students had been in at the time of the Charleston collapse. "Here goes nothing," she said to herself, as if it was something she would have to steel herself for.

As she studied and charted her results, her eyes danced across the screen, eyelids slowly narrowing. And by the time she'd finished, her eyes had almost completely shut. She saved her document seconds before falling asleep to the gentle sound of morning birdsong.


	12. The Grip

Author's Note: Time for things to get a little bit more intense. Best of luck, readers!

* * *

Final Destination: Breaking Down

Chapter Twelve: The Grip

* * *

"Have you heard from anyone at all today?" Kimberly asked when I finally joined the others in the common room. They looked to be watching a cartoon movie on the large television. Unlike last night, they did seem rather focused on the movie, clearly trying to partake in its humor.

"Pablo is hanging out with Sakura at her place, and Denali stayed up all last night. Nothing from Cameron," I replied, closing my eyes momentarily. I was surprised to see anything at all from the others, honestly, but it seemed they were all finally serious about survival. I foresaw quite a lot of skipping in the future, until we found a way to actually beat the design.

"It's probably gonna be pretty calm for a while," Kimberly followed as I opened my eyes. "At this point in the list, it's usually just the visionary and a close friend or two, and Death likes to come after all of them in a blaze of glory. It probably has no idea how to deal with six of you still being alive, so it's gonna be recuperating."

That all sounded like complete nonsense to me, like did she literally just make that up? In any case, it was likely said to assuage me of my dread, so I accepted and moved past it. I debated joining them on the couch but then noticed the empty spot I expected was instead filled by Reggie. "...Have you been there the whole time?" I asked.

"Yessir," Reggie replied. I tossed a wide-eyed smirk to Kimberly for talking about Death stuff so blatantly around him, but she shrugged and turned back to the TV.

Riley jumped to his feet then. "Matt, get up." The bright yellow flash of the screen reflected on his face.

As he grabbed my shoulders, I tried to reply. "W…?"

"Matt! Get up," Riley said. _Seriously, what is going on here?_ He shook me once, and then my eyes opened.

"Wh… what happened?" I found myself on the floor just outside my bedroom door, with Riley standing directly over me. Kimberly, Thomas, and Reggie had stood from the couch, leering at me with concern.

"You answered Kimberly's question and then zoned out again," Riley answered. "Which was pretty normal, I guess, until you collapsed right after. You feeling alright?" He hadn't let go of my shoulders, which must have been rather uncomfortable given my proximity to the floor.

"I… I think so. I guess I didn't sleep well last night after what happened to Amy." My voice slowly descrendoed into a whisper.

Thomas grabbed his wrist, twisting his watch in discomfort. "I'm really sorry we couldn't do anything about that."

I sighed. "It's okay. It's not your fault." At a loss for further words, I turned back to Riley. I signaled my intent to stand, and he cleared the way. "Should we call Cameron to check on him, or…"

Kimberly looked up in thought. "I don't think we need to call. Just send him a text message. Unless you have already." Naturally I had, but I nodded anyway, then looking to Reggie, who'd turned back to the movie.

"...Nice to see you all hanging out?" I said, uncomfortably.

"Reggie's cool," Thomas replied. Without looking, the two fistbumped.

"Literally what the fuck," I whispered. Riley laughed quietly as I made for the kitchen and hunted down some leftover pizza. Still rather put off by the others' actions, imagined or not, I reentered my bedroom alone.

The pizza was rather unflavored, and I debated going back to sprinkle on some parmesan and cinnamon. I really didn't care to exit my room again, and in lazy distress I rolled my head to the side, looking out the window. In a distant corner of the view, a street rested, occupied solely by a man who was burning leaves. The cinders sparkled and danced in a spiral, and a shiver ran across my back. I decided to get the condiments I desired.

"Forget something?" Riley asked in a chit-chatty way.

"Parmesan," I responded bluntly. I grabbed the container from the fridge, its cool touch a contrast to my perspiring hands. The one gripping it shuddered slightly, and it slipped loose, knocking on the floor.

"You okay?" Thomas asked.

"Y...yeah," I answered. I'd never been freaked out so much by what I figured was a sign, but only one explanation came to mind. It must have been a sign of my own death.

"Matt," Kimberly said. She and Riley stood and had crossed quickly to me. She laid a hand on my shoulder, and without thought I brushed it off. At that point, I realized I was having a panic attack. _Oh boy!_ Doing my best to ignore the faces of the others, I made quick way for my bedroom, snatching up the parmesan.

My shaky hands were good for sprinkling it over the pizza but not for much else. I brought a slice to my teeth, shedding some of the non-adhesive cheese onto my shirt. "Oh, damn it," I grunted, plopping the slice back onto its plate and flopping into bed. Digging in my pocket for several seconds revealed my keychain, which I spun quite roughly for a couple of solid minutes. I was only interrupted by my phone ringing. A video game chiptune filled my ears as I debated answering. It was Riley, who was literally in the next room. I felt bad ignoring his call, so I let it keep ringing.

A few seconds after it stopped, the game track played again. "Damn it, Riley," I groaned. But as I looked at the caller on my screen, I saw… myself. "What the-" It seemed to have been a glitch, as the name changed to Denali's. "Is everything alright?" I answered.

"I meant to call you sooner, but I passed out. I was doing a bit of research on the victims of the tower collapse. Have you seen anyone from your Civ class that escaped without your help from the vision?" Denali said, quickly enough that I struggled to make sense of her words.

"...No, I don't think so. I don't know any of them that well though. Hey, how much sleep are you going on?" I replied, rubbing my eyes.

"Like four hours; I don't know. Listen, every person in Reyns' Civ class except for you, Sakura, and Cameron is dead."

"Are you serious? None of them made it?" I asked, squeezing the keychain tightly with my left hand.

"Unfortunately," she replied. "Listen, there's one other class with everyone dead. Doctor Harrell's Calc 1 class. Everyone enrolled in it is dead except for three people. Me, Pablo, and Elrick." Her voice had lowered in tempo and volume, so I was able to relax my body. My mind, on the other hand, remained tense.

"What does that mean?" I asked, nervously.

"I don't know," she replied, and after a quick outroduction, she had departed. The room remained perfectly silent.

* * *

Wanting to keep me from sitting around and wallowing in despair, Riley decided to remind me that a new RPG I wanted had been released a couple of days ago. I'd somehow completely forgotten it, but I agreed having time to play 'Companions' would give my brain something else to focus on in lieu of the anxiety.

I sat in the backseat of Riley's car, diagonally from him for maximum safety. Kimberly decided to be our spare eye and sat in the passenger's seat. Thomas remained at home with Reggie, intending to rush over to Denali's place if anything happened to me or Riley. For some reason, I felt he wouldn't need to go, but this thought was not a comfort.

"Oh, crap," Riley whispered.

"What is it?" Kimberly asked.

Riley gestured to his instrument panel. "I'm just about out of gas."

"There's a big station just down Eucalyptus. Turn left at the next light," I replied. It was a wonder I'd remembered that location off the top of my head, considering I didn't even drive, but it seemed to satisfy Riley, and we casually rolled in at a central pump.

"I'm gonna go find the bathroom, actually," Kimberly said as we stepped outside. With a wave, she power-walked into the relatively large building.

I slowly inspected the surrounding area as Riley began pumping fuel. "Pretty low traffic, huh." For such a big station, there were hardly any cars. Only three of the twenty-four pumps were even being used.

"I guess Eucalyptus isn't the most popular road on a Saturday," Riley replied. "Especially in a town like this." Content that nothing in my field of vision was of any concern, I looked back to the car, still feeling a twinge of unease in my chest.

For a split second, I thought I saw the car tick a tiny bit backward.

* * *

Kimberly had no trouble finding the bathroom. The trouble she had was with the wares of the gas station. Aisle after aisle was filled with odd, local candies she'd never seen, stacks of knick-knacks, and shelves of soda. _This is quite the quirky town,_ she thought, feeling something between amusement and cautiousness. She decided to check out a bar of chocolate before refocusing on heading to the restroom.

She found the room to be completely empty, excepting herself. The complete lack of people she'd noticed was a mote unsettling, and she adjusted her purse strap over her shoulder in moderate discomfort.

After finishing, she shook her hands dry, pulling a single paper towel free. _You'd better get out there,_ she thought, almost as though enticed so by someone else. Now legitimately concerned, she grabbed the door handle through the paper towel.

It refused to budge.

* * *

The axles of Riley's car made hideous metallic sounds as the car slowly continued rolling backward. "What the fuck?" Riley said, losing his grip on the pump nozzle and jogging behind his car, believing he could push it to a halt.

I stood still for a few seconds, momentarily surprised before being able to react. As the car continued rolling toward us, the nozzle came loose, spilling gasoline onto the ground. "Oh, dear," I said, at a loss for better words. I circled behind the car as well, quick-stepping with my right foot to dodge the spill.

That last step was rather unfortunate, as it placed my foot laterally right behind the tire. I didn't realize until after it had begun rolling on top of my foot, and I seized up in pain. "Matt!" Riley shouted. I stood still with my eyes shut, waiting for it to roll over. It didn't. Apparently the effort of climbing my foot was enough to tire out the vehicle, and it came to rest, pinning me underneath.

"Oh, fuck," I said, moderately quietly. If my movement was being disabled, it was likely my turn on the list. "Jesus CHRIST that hurts! Riley, oh my god!" I began to panic, finally feeling the pain. The sharp fire in my foot was hot enough to overpower the ice that had solidified inside my chest, and I began to perspire rather heavily.

"Matt, oh shit," Riley called out, alternating between trying to push the car or pull me away. Both proved useless with the sheer mass of the damned thing, of which I could feel every ounce. "Kimberly!" he shouted, clearly beginning to freak out as much as me.

"Riley!" The responding voice was not, in fact, Kimberly's. A slam of a car door and a rushing of footsteps revealed Denali, who must have just pulled in. She instantly began to push on the back of the car, so Riley wrapped his arms around my waist and tugged. I wanted so badly to shout out in fear but refrained only for their benefit. They didn't need to be pressured further.

The light fixture above our pump flared once, sending out a few sparks. It buzzed once, and I flashed back to the failing light in the Charleston lobby for a split second. I looked down at my feet, seeing the gasoline puddle surrounding our feet. _Why won't that thing stop?!_ I thought, terror reigniting within me. _This is how I'm… we're…_ Death wanted its finale, and it looked like it was going to get it, albeit rather early.

"Guys, get out of here!" I was in far too much pain to refrain from shouting or sounding harsh.

"No! We got you," Riley shouted.

"We can't let it kill all of us! Just go!"

"Matt, please-" Denali was cut off by the sound of several honks in rapid succession. We turned quickly to see who had driven up right before Riley's car. "Cameron?"

Indeed, the basketball player had driven up, pushing his bumper up against Riley's. He waved a hand as if to dismiss us, and Riley and Denali backed away. Driving forward, Cameron pushed the car further backward, releasing my foot from its grip at last. Eternally grateful, I stumbled from the gas station.

After a few steps, the pain in my foot caught up to me, and I toppled forward, dazed against the concrete. "Matt! Get up!" Riley yelled. He grabbed my shoulders, pulling me up over his shoulder and running after Denali, all the way across the street.

When we arrived at a neighboring grass field, I turned to see Cameron had pushed Riley's car all the way out of the gas station lot. Riley let me fall then, and we looked back at the gas station. As soon as my eyes landed on the spilt gasoline, it alighted, and the flames sent an explosion through the air.

After unshielding myself, I took quick inventory of my friends. Denali lied farthest back, shock coloring her face. Cameron had remained safe in his truck, and his focus was locked on the rearview mirror. I turned to my right to see Riley lying beside me. _He's safe. We're all safe._ Indeed, even the store building seemed relatively intact, and I could hear fire trucks rushing down the street.

"Oh, thank God," Riley said, sliding over to grab my shoulders. His lips pressed against mine, and I breathed him in deeply, wrapping him in my arms. Redirecting my earlier fear into passion, I squeezed him as tightly as I could without hurting him.

Kimberly had yet to return, and as I began to worry again, I quickly dialed her up. "Kimberly?"

"What happened?" she asked, wasting no time on small talk.

"One of the pumps blew up. But we're all okay. Where are you?" My voice harshly transitioned from relief to that demanding parental tone, but I damn sure needed to know.

"I'm stuck in the bathroom." Her response caught me completely off guard. After a moment of silence, I began to laugh, letting a chorus of joyous sounds rock across my body and soul.


	13. Misguided

Author's Note: I know you can't believe nobody died in that one. To be honest I'm sad to have a potential death cornucopia that I don't get to use. Thinking of ways to kill people really is a struggle. In any case, enjoy this next chapter. We're more than halfway there, folks, so hang on tight.

* * *

Final Destination: Breaking Down

Chapter Thirteen: Misguided

* * *

After the situation had been sorted out, Riley approached Cameron, clapping him on the shoulder. "Thanks for saving my car."

I popped into the conversation before he could reply. "Thanks for saving my _life_. All of our lives, actually."

Cameron nodded twice, a bit of a self-satisfied look on his face. "You saved me, bro. About time I repaid the favor." With that, I followed Riley's lead, circling behind Cameron and clapping his other shoulder.

Denali and Kimberly approached us then from the side. "Was that gas explosion supposed to kill all of us? Since we all happened to be be there." I wasn't sure how to answer that question, since I didn't know what would have happened without Cameron's intervention, so I shrugged.

"Try… never mind," Kimberly started.

"Wait, try what?" I asked. It would have been nice to have any idea who was supposed to die and, therefore, who was next.

"I hate to ask this of you, but… I think you can do it. You're one of the stronger visionaries, just like me and… the guy from the racetrack. You've clearly had multiple premonition-like events, where you saw a hypothetical future. So, maybe you should try shifting your mind to back before Cameron saved you and premonitoring what should have happened," she explained.

The whole thing reminded me of this visual novel I'd played where the player can jump back to specific decisions in the story line and change their path, thus resulting in twenty-some different endings. But could I do that for real, even if it was just mentally? "That sounds impossible. Like… that's not a possible future anymore, right? So I shouldn't be able to see it now." I had accepted Kimberly as sort of an expert on premonitions, so I figured she had some kind of logical answer.

"Your friends dying in the building collapse isn't a possible future anymore either. But it was, and you still can see that, right?" Kimberly had raised her eyebrows, possibly without realizing. "And not just from your memories of it. You literally re-visualize it. So… this could work." She started to look a bit excited, so I figured other visionaries had never been able to do this, if they even tried.

"...Okay then. Uh, how do I…"

"Try to imagine Cameron not making it in time. What happens?" Kimberly crossed her arms, adopting a serious face, and I closed my eyes. As I felt a hand on my shoulder, I tried to jump back to when I was stuck under the car's tire.

I didn't feel anything. _This is useless,_ I thought. But with a sharp intake of oxygen, I was suddenly there.

" _We can't let it kill all of us! Just go!" I hear myself shout._

" _Matt, please," Denali cries. "Don't give up!" The two continue to try forcing me out, but it truly is no use. I begin to try shoving them away, my eyes filling with tears as Riley refuses to move._

" _I don't want you to die!" he yells, wrapping me in his arms. Denali has yet to move either, and for a few seconds I appreciate how fiercely loyal my friends are._

 _Alas, the pool of gasoline has spread across the concrete to the neighboring pump, on the opposite side of the car. I can see the light above flare again, and sparks rain down in slow motion. As they hit the gasoline, it lights up, immediately blowing the pump. I slowly duck behind the car, aware of its futility._

 _The explosion blasts unbearable heat over me, until…_

"Well?" Kimberly said. I wanted to tell her that it had succeeded, but she could probably tell by the glassy eyes I'd adopted during the event.

"I…" I started. "I didn't see Cameron at all," I replied, rubbing my forehead. "I think it was just supposed to kill the three of us." I stuck out my thumb and pinky, arcing my hand to point at Riley, Denali, and myself.

"So," Cameron followed. "I'm next, then." I was expecting again the look of depressed dread I'd become so used to, but Cameron seemed determined. "Alright, man. I trust you all. I'm ready." That made one of us.

"...Come on; let's go get Companions," Riley said. I laughed just once, very inclined to agree.

"I'll hang out with Cameron and keep a lookout," Kimberly replied, looking over at him. He nodded softly in response. "Denali?"

"I'd better get back home and sleep. Nearly dying is tiring," she joked, scratching her chin absent-mindedly. "Keep me in the loop, though." With a major yawn, she waved and wandered to her car.

"I'll let Thom know what's going on. Bye, guys," Kimberly finished, pulling out her phone and waving. Cameron followed suit, and soon enough, Riley and I were alone.

"So, maybe before we go to get Companions," I started as I slipped into the passenger seat, "we should maybe take me to, I don't know, the hospital?" I was no longer cringing in pain thanks to adrenaline and time, but I could hardly walk on the foot, and it surely needed patching up.

"That was the plan," Riley replied, joining me inside the vehicle. "I just wanted to lift the mood."

The first few minutes of our ride were rather quiet, and i could tell what was on his mind. I was hoping to discuss it as well, but I was trying to think of the best way to word my thoughts. "So… want to talk about uh… you know," I finally said, giving up.

"Yep, probably a good idea," he answered. "I'm sorry I didn't ask first, I just… Emotions are kind of intense right now, you know?"

"I'm willing to forgive you," I replied with a smile. "You know, I didn't realize you weren't straight."

Riley laughed once, more snarky than amused. "Why do you think my parents were so shitty?" My smile faded quickly. The story of conservative parents was too real. _I could guess how mine would respond to learning that the child they thought was male actually likes men himself, and that's not even mentioning the nonbinary thing,_ I thought, probably for the first time in weeks.

"I guess all the death stuff pushed that kind of thinking out of my head," I replied. "I'm not too romantic, really, and only a bit more sexual, so… never really thought about dating."

"We will be spending a lot more time together," he laughed, nervously. "But I understand. It's kind of not the most important thing right now." He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel, breathing deeply.

"Okay," I replied, "but… when we're through with this… let's go out. If you want." It was a wonder I wasn't shaking in my metaphorical boots, but Riley was rather trustworthy.

"I do," he replied. "Hey, we're almost there. Need help getting out?" I tried rolling my ankle, gasping in pain. "I'm gonna take that as a yes, then," he continued, gripping my shoulder as he pulled into a parking space.

With my arm draped over his shoulder and my injured foot suspended, we waddled into the hospital. As the cold air of the foyer blew over me, I paused.

 _The heat of the explosion is unbearable, but I continue to feel it. The fire dances around me, petrifying me before slowly dying off. Alas, I'm still awake. My flesh is charred in several exposed areas, but my torso and head have survived. I glance over to find Denali's scorched body, motionless. Despair squeezes my chest as my vision fades, but I am still awake._

"F…" I started to swear when I came back, but couldn't bring myself to. "Th… that explosion wasn't supposed to kill me."

"What?" Riley said, confused. "I thought you saw that it was."

"I did too, but… I never saw myself die the first time. And I just saw a bit more, and I didn't end up dying, w-which means I'm next f-for real." As I started shaking, Riley brought his other hand to my chest, holding me firmly but gently.

"Listen, I got you. I got you," he said, then resting his head against my temple. "We haven't seen any signs yet, so you're good for now. I'll always be here to help you," he continued after a few seconds. He was not nearly enough for me to regain confidence, considering the damn anxiety that plagued me, but I acted moderately calmer to keep him from worrying.

I was rather fortunate to have Riley there to do all of the communicating with hospital staff for me, so I focused on looking around the inside of the lobby, scanning the walls vigilantly for anything that could be a sign whatsoever. Try as I might, I couldn't find a single thing that stood out or felt eerie, so I relaxed ever so slightly more.

"Let me get you a wheelchair," a nurse at the desk said. I watched him swiftly walk away to retrieve one, only then realizing how emotionally wrung out I was.

"Are you okay man?" Riley asked, lightly shaking me. "You're zoning out, but… you look so calm. It's kind of adorable."

I appreciated his words, but again, he was trying too hard and too fast to cheer me up. "I'm just… tired. Come to my room with me?"

He chuckled once. "You didn't think I'd just wait out here for them to talk at me, did you?" I smiled weakly, looking absently at a distant wall. An elevator toned, opening its door. Above it read the number 1 and a down arrow in bright red LED's. I stared at it as the nurse returned, slowly sitting me down into the wheelchair.

* * *

A rapidly-developed stomachache wracked Cameron shortly after everyone had left the gas station. Not wanting to take any chances with him so unfocused, Kimberly had directed him to find the nearest clinic to be cared for. The closest thing the two could find was Two Rivers Hospital, into which Cameron begrudgingly drove. Exiting his truck sent another wave of pain through his abdomen, and he paused just outside his door.

"Hey, let's go slow, okay?" Kimberly said as she approached. She moved to place a hand on his shoulder but stopped, recalling that she still didn't know Cameron hardly at all. He held up a hand to keep her back, showing that he could maintain himself, and the two meandered into the building.

As Cameron approached the desk, he remained able, glancing around before he began to speak to the attending nurse. When his eyes fell on the wall of elevators, he thought he saw Matt in a wheelchair. But before he could make eye contact, another surge of pain wrenched his stomach, and he couldn't choke out a single word.

"Cameron?" Kimberly asked, the last word he heard before blacking out.

* * *

I could tell Riley noticed that I remained distracted, but he was patient enough to ask after the nurse dropped me off in a small room. "Did you see something?"

"Yeah," I replied, stretching out my knees on the wonderfully soft bed. "It was Cameron and Kimberly. It looked like he was hurt, but I didn't see any injury, so it's probably not an emergency." I capped the sentence off with a yawn, following up with a frown. The thought of Cameron suffering was saddening, and I was the master of feeling other people's pain as my own. Additionally, I was not wanting to have him be terribly close to me in the event Death tried to come for both of us.

"Hey, we just got out of a near-death situation," Riley chimed in. "Do you really think it'd come after you again right after?" It seemed he'd read my mind.

"We can't assume that we're in any grace period. It's not like this thing is understanding or merciful, or else we wouldn't be in this mess." I glared down at my shoe, unable to imagine how my foot must look within it or how the doctors planned to remove it. _They better put me under anesthetic before they deal with that shit,_ I thought wryly.

"Should I go find them?" He edged forward in his chair, looking ready to shove off. I held up a hand to stop him, watching him rock back against the cushion.

"It's too late to find them if they're already getting a room," I replied. "Your best bet's probably to call them." I glanced back at my foot, strangely impulsed to rotate it back and forth about my ankle. The slightest motion told me that wasn't the greatest idea I'd ever had, so I stopped, closing my eyes for a few seconds.

"I'm ringing Cameron first," Riley said then, so I opened my eyes again.

"Uh, do have discretion. Like, don't tell him to get the hell out of here because I'm gonna die and he's right next," I laughed weakly.

Riley let the hand holding his phone fall to his lap, the number only partially dialed. "Did you see a sign?"

I nodded, a sad smile cropping up on my face. "It's an elevator," I replied.

"So we just have to keep you off of them, right?" he replied, raising his eyebrows. "...I'm a bit surprised you got on the one up here in the first place."

"Yeah, I suppose. Go ahead and call, though." With a nod, he obeyed, so I shut my eyes again.

* * *

A distant song caught Cameron's attention as he boarded the elevator alongside Kimberly and a nurse. The song was very familiar, and upon hearing it, he instinctively grabbed at his shorts' pocket. It was empty. "Aw, shit," he whispered.

"Something wrong?" the nurse asked.

"That was my phone," Cameron started. "I must have dropped it when I stumbled."

"Do you want me to go back and get it? I can let you two handle the room thing," Kimberly replied, feeling a bit put off by the nurse. She couldn't put her finger on it, but something about being in a small space with the woman was rather discomforting.

"No no," Cameron replied quickly. Kimberly's face expressed surprise, and Cameron quickly backpedaled. "Sorry, I just… would really rather get it myself," he followed, significantly quieter. He exited the elevator with the nurse and Kimberly, following them just to see which room he was to be admitted in.

"I really would recommend you stay here," the nurse said. "I don't want you stressing yourself."

Cameron chuckled once. "It'd be more stressful if it wasn't me getting my phone." Without another word, he left the room, speed-walking back toward the elevator.

Before Kimberly could turn back to the nurse, her cell phone began to ring. Seeing Riley's name on her screen sent a wave of dread over her. "Riley?" she answered.

"Kimberly," he responded. "You and Cameron are in the same hospital as me and Matt. Listen, you two should probably clear out whenever you can. If something happens to Matt, Cameron's next."

"I thought he already was," Kimberly answered, seeing Cameron freeze in the hallway, presumably from another burst of pain.

"Matt said the explosion wasn't supposed to kill him, so he's still next."

Kimberly spent a few seconds trying to think of how to word her next sentence without drawing the suspicion of the still-present nurse. "Did he see any signs for what it could be that's coming?" She closed one eye awkwardly, watching Cameron step aboard the elevator.

"Yeah," Riley continued. "It's an elevator." For a split second, Kimberly had a flashback to her brushes with death, remembering two of her friends telling her that one of the others she'd saved had been beheaded by an elevator. Without another thought, she ran out of the room.

"Cameron!" she shouted. From within the elevator, the lone man looked up, wondering what she was worried about. But before he could step forward, the elevator groaned. With the doors still wide open, the cable snapped. Quickly thinking to avoid being crushed within, Cameron dove forward, reaching his arms for the tile floor. Although they successfully made it, half of his body did not. His upper torso lied prone, bleeding profusely into the gap that had taken his lower half.


	14. Alive

Author's Note: To clarify, Cameron's death wasn't an instant kill. He was likely alive for about another minute, but he just didn't have the energy to move or wail or anything. Wouldn't that have been despairing?

* * *

Final Destination: Breaking Down

Chapter Fourteen: Alive

* * *

"I just can't figure it out," I groaned, increasingly frustrated as my brain offered no solution to the conundrum.

"You're entirely certain you weren't supposed to die at the gas station?" Denali asked, sitting across from me in her living room.

"When Kimberly asked me, I saw the explosion, but only up to a point," I continued. "That's why I thought all three of us died. But then at the hospital, I saw a little bit more, and I survived."

Denali smirked a bit. "How do you know that there wasn't another little bit after that where something else did kill you?"

"I don't," I answered sharply, slapping my hands against my knees. From beside me, Riley wrapped an arm around my shoulders, squeezing me to reaffirm his presence as a protective ally. "But I really don't think I was supposed to die there."

Denali looked up at the ceiling, rocking her lower jaw back and forth as she thought. "Okay," she said as an idea lit up her eyes. "What if something was supposed to kill you in the hospital, but you got skipped somehow?"

The idea was reasonable, and admittedly it had never occurred to me, but I somehow sincerely doubted it. "I can't think of a damn thing that could have almost killed me. Riley?" I turned to him, waiting for his judgement.

"No, there wasn't anything that did that. I like to think we would have noticed that." Absent-mindedly, he rubbed my shoulder, looking back to Denali while biting his fingernails.

"Maybe we should just…" Denali began, spreading her hands to represent a growing sphere, "accept that Matt's been skipped for now and worry about why later."

"I don't know about that," I retorted, bringing up a finger to point in roughly her direction. "If there's something fishy that kicked my place from the list for some reason, we should probably figure out what it is. And maybe we can exploit it to skip everyone permanently."

This brought some emotion to Denali's eyes. "You think you got kicked off the list?" she called out, clearly surprised.

My initial response was a simple shrug, rather to her chagrin. "Maybe? It's the only thing that makes sense. If Kimberly were here, I'd ask her." I kept my arms aloft in my shrug, holding them for several seconds before dropping them back into my lap.

"Yeah, is there any reason you only called over me and Matt?" Riley asked.

Denali sighed. "We still don't know about the relative order between the three of us. I thought recent events would clear that up, but, as you both know, that sure didn't happen. So… I was kind of hoping Matt could revisit his vision and try to see if I'm there. Or you." She nodded to Riley.

 _That's always fun,_ I thought wryly. This answer seemed to hide some kind of other intentions, but I didn't question them further. "I'm entirely certain I didn't. Haven't we tried this before?"

"You've never mentioned how you died in Charleston," Denali continued. "Is it possible you've blocked that memory as a defense mechanism?" Her voice had sunk to a whisper, and she looked down at her lap.

"Denali…" I replied quietly.

She nodded a few times, then wiping her eyes. "That's what I've done." Her voice reminded me of candy glass, liable to dissolve with the faintest tap. "I… fell down the stairwell and broke my neck. That's the same thing that happened to Amy, right?" When you told me about what happened, I could feel the white heat through my own body. Gosh, it really hurts sometimes…" Since she wasn't looking up, I glanced over at Riley, who wasn't sure what expression to make.

"...I'll try," I finally spoke up after roughly a minute. With a deep inhalation, I focused on that fateful day three weeks prior.

 _I tumble from the banister above and find myself successfully on the next lower set of stairs. At this level, I am fairly certain I'm almost down to the fourth floor. I dash around the ledge, preparing to get to the third floor next._

 _But there it is, that godforsaken backpack. I don't understand how someone would accidentally drop something that should have been strapped to their back. Regardless, it brushes my foot as I jump over it, and I slowly tumble toward the concrete stairs._

 _My face lights up in hot pain as blood rushes to my nose, but I gingerly touch it and notice only moderate pain. It must not be broken, so I stand again and continue running down the stairs. In spite of being somewhat dazed, I quickly circle to the fourth floor, propelled by the realization that I've been inside for too long. The lack of surviving people around me tells me I'm inside the building in its last several seconds._

 _I'm about to reach the ledge halfway between floors four and three when the front wall entirely crumbles. Rain blows in harshly, and I shield my eyes for a second, trying to decide what to do. I don't think I'll have enough time to run down 2.5 more flights before the rest of the stairwell collapses. "Fuck!" I shout, then praying as intensely as I can manage. And then, I jump out into the open air._

 _The fall is petrifying, and I feel it in slow motion. As the air flurries about me, I find myself lamenting that this, the one thing that irrationally gave me anxiety, is now the thing that's going to kill me. I close my eyes as tears form, trying to prepare myself to hit the ground._

" _Oof!" a voice grunts as I whack into someone. The person falls over, and my leg smashes into the ground. I find myself in a shit ton of pain, but I'm somehow still alive. "I got you."_

 _I stare him in the face, thanking God continuously for the miracle. Not even giving my likely-broken leg the time of day, I reply. "Riley, oh my god." Finally safe to release the adrenaline, I collapse in a fit of tears, and he simply holds me tight._

When I came back to reality, Denali and Riley were giving me two rather confused looks. "W… what's wrong?" I asked, still quite distracted from the surprisingly sweet ending to the hell that was my premonition.

"You almost looked like you were… happy…" Riley replied. "Like your death ended your stress or something." Denali narrowed an eye at this, looking away from us.

"Okay, that actually wasn't what was going on," I followed, crescendoing at the end of the sentence. I wanted to be careful how I worded my findings, so as not to brew any animosity in Denali. I knew she'd be grateful that Riley and I weren't even fated to die, but she still was, which… could have lead to majorly hurt feelings if not handled properly. As per usual, I spent quite a while thinking of how to word the explanation, and as per usual, I came up with nothing especially helpful, so I bit the bullet. "I saw… I was thrown out of the building, but… I got caught. I… I lived." The idea was even more surprising as I said it aloud, considering how used to watching Death at every turn I'd gotten.

"You what?" Riley asked, jumping forward in his seat.

"That doesn't make sense. How… Why did the car at the gas station trap you then? If you were never meant to die, then… I don't see why it's messing with you instead of me or Riley." Denali placed a hand about her temple.

"Actually…" I started, preparing her for another curveball. "I did say I got caught… it was by Riley. Actually." I smirked then, fearing the face she was sure to make.

Indeed, she did seem somewhere between frustrated and flustered. "Oh," she replied, finally. "So… then it'd be Sakura, Pablo, and then me, right?"

"...I suppose so," I droned back, then letting silence envelop the room.

* * *

The deep sound of a heavy glass on the not-so-smooth surface of the table at the bar was low and rather insignificant, but Pablo continued sliding his drink around in a circle, amused.

"Are you having a good time, Pablo?" Georgia asked from across the table. Pablo made a point of continuing to slide the glass for a few seconds before looking up at her. His reply solely consisted of a shrug. "That makes one of us," Georgia giggled.

Pablo's eyes fell to Cyril beside her, who was taking a prolonged swig of his beer to avoid being dragged into another silly debate. Pablo waggled his eyebrows at him, as though to warn him that he had not escaped being part of the conversation. As Cyril's glass descended, Pablo started to open his mouth, but Cyril cut him off quickly. "Steak," he grunted joyfully in a deep, powerful voice. He swiftly sliced a piece of his dinner off and shoved it in his mouth.

"Anyway," Georgia started again. "It's been too long since we all did anything super fun. We should all try to go out tomorrow and… I don't know, do something fun!"

"What did you have in mind?" Pablo asked, tapping at his glass.

Georgia screwed up her face, slipping deep into thought. "Uh… I don't know. We could go minigolfing?"

"It's too late for that," Cyril grunted.

"I said _tomorrow_ , smart guy," Georgia chided.

"I don't know when you were planning on going, but Pablo and I have community service in the morning and chapter in the afternoon." Cyril placed another piece of steak between his teeth, raising his eyebrows at Georgia. She responded by sticking out her tongue.

"Very mature, you two," Pablo joked. Cyril's next action was to hold up a single french fry for several seconds before pelting it into Pablo's chest. "Honestly, I can't take you anywhere."

"Anywho," Georgia chimed, "maybe we can go somewhere tomorrow night. Like… we could hang out in the botanical gardens and watch the stars."

"I thought there was a fire that fuckin' wrecked the gardens. Did they finish redoing it already?" Cyril asked. Georgia surely replied in an excited affirmative, but Pablo had already begun to slip back in time. He was having a flashback of his own.

 _The weather's immaculate beauty catches Pablo's attention as he walks just behind Denali and Yvonne. Their Calculus professor, for whatever reason, thought the entire class should visit the outdoor "classroom" in the middle of the botanical gardens. Pablo hated to waste any chunk of the class time, but the gentle yellow touch of the sun on his skin is relaxing, and he definitely feels like he needs it right now._

" _Come on, buddy; we're losing our precious math time!" Ben calls out, clapping Pablo and Valerie on their shoulders._

" _Right you are," Doctor Harrell replies. "But we really don't have much to go over today. I'm surprised you all showed up on a Friday. Well, almost all."_

" _Ah, so did they," Yvonne responds, pointing into the rows of benches in the gardens. They are rather filled with students of an entirely different class. The professor drones off, and everyone turns to look as Harrell walks up._

" _Ah, Mr. Reyns. Sorry; I wasn't expecting you to bring your class here," Harrell calls, brushing a strand of short hair behind her ear._

" _No trouble at all," Reyns replies, immediately starting up his lesson again. Jori locks eyes with Pablo, offering a sympathetic smirk. A stiff wind gusts across the gardens, catching him by surprise; he'd expected all the trees to form a windbreak._

" _Whoa, goodness," one of Reyns' students says, staring into the trees at an oblique angle. Pablo turns his head to follow the student's line of sight, and sees smoke rising from a short distance._

" _Is that a fire?" Valerie asks. As everyone else turns to see, Pablo comes to a quick realization. In the direction of the smoke lies a utility shed for the machine shop, and outside of it sits a fairly large propane tank. He doubts a small grass fire would ignite it, but it was in everyone's best interest to clear out quickly._

 _Reyns clears his throat, and Lucy stands immediately. "Alright," Reyns starts, "everyone-" He's interrupted by a harsh clang and a puncturing sound, followed immediately by a rather violent explosion. As flames and shrapnel drench the vicinity, Pablo's ears are alight with a chorus of shouts and screams._

 _The exit pathway becomes everyone's first intended route, which is very unfortunate, considering it is blocked quickly by a falling tree, which is itself alight, quite literally. A couple of students fall beneath it, but some weasel themselves free._

 _Alas, everything happens too quickly, considering how panicky everyone seems to be. The fires have no counteractive force in the dry gardens, and thus, the students have no escape._

 _Pablo gasps as his eyes fling themselves open, and he realizes he's still sitting in class in Charleston. No one seems to notice his concern, so he tries to keep his cool._

" _Honestly, it's gorgeous outside. Would anyone care to have class at the botanical gardens?" Harrell asks._

" _No!" Pablo replies, a bit harshly. "Uh… you can't write on a board if we're there. It's just… bad for math."_

 _Harrell glances at him for several seconds before looking over the rest of the room and seeing that none of the other students really care. With a sigh, she responds: "Fair enough. Let's get started then. Does anyone know if Elrick Caund is planning on arriving today?" The class response is, as expected, mumbly and inconclusive, but Pablo had stopped paying attention. He fires off a test to Jori, practically begging her to keep Reyns' class from visiting the botanical gardens._

 _Jori's reply comes not thirty seconds later. "Consider it done." Pablo exhales deeply into his hands, rubbing his eyes._

When he opened them, they saw Georgia and Cyril, laughing before him. He glanced down at his watch, transfixed momentarily on the strong lining of the digits. _Already 11:04…_ he thought with a smirk. He'd had a complete, peaceful day for once in his college career. Reveling in his fortune, he calmed himself and joined his friends in their laughter.


	15. Letting Go

Author's Note: Now that you've had your last little chapter of peace, it's time for the climax! Good luck emotionally, and I hope you like it.

* * *

Final Destination: Breaking Down

Chapter Fifteen: Letting Go

* * *

"I had kind of wanted to tell Riley that he would have saved me during the accident when we were alone, since it was a great excuse to kiss him. Alas, there was no way I could have kept that from Denali when we were all together, so I said it then. There was no kiss in front of her and likewise none when we got back in his car.

That night, I lied in bed on my back, staring up at the ceiling. Normally, I'd have been staring in seemingly-relaxed exasperation, but that night I was rather relieved. Riley was lying on the floor beside me, and the two of us were legitimately free from the cycle of death. I supposed we were free the entire time, then, but it was nice to finally know.

"I have one question," Riley said after a few minutes of silence. "Weren't Denali and I supposed to die in that gas station explosion?"

"Hmm," I replied. "You know, now that I think about it, I only saw Denali's body in the premonition. Or the uh… postmonition? Since it happened afterwards." I stopped then, knowing that if I started saying ridiculous things, it would be rather difficult to shut up or reel it back in.

"No complaints here," Riley laughed. I was hoping the news would relax him as well, but I could tell he was still worried. Three of our friends were still on Death's list and in danger at every second. It was eating at him, which was hard for me to accept. _I feel you, mate,_ I thought, offering the ceiling a melancholic smirk.

I inhaled deeply, preparing myself for what I was going to say next. "You can, uh… sleep on the bed. If you want." My arms began to quake, but I continued deeply breathing, hoping to ease them.

"Oh," Riley replied. "Uh, nah, it's fine. Your foot and all. But thanks."

"Right. Good night, mate." I shut my eyes and hoped to quickly cap off another damn stressful day.

Riley, however, did not fall asleep. He lied motionless on the floor, eyes fixed on an electric socket on the wall at his eye level. Such a simple, commonplace object held so much potential for danger. _I wonder if I'm gonna be thinking like this for the rest of my life…_ The thought of a prolonged life was ideal, but one filled with fear for no real reason would be grading on his well-being. He inhaled deeply, preparing to sigh, but instead he coughed quietly. After drumming his fingers on the floor a few times, he sat up.

"Hell," he whispered, slowly standing up. He snatched his cell phone off the desk and silently slipped out of the room, closing the door achingly slow, so as not to awaken anyone.

"Yo." Reggie's voice from the couch startled Riley, who turned about quickly. "What're you doing up?"

Riley smirked. "Uh… I just can't sleep." He shrugged weakly, hoping that was enough to appease Reggie.

It seemed not. "Mmhm," Reggie replied. "Whatcha doin' out here, then?" He made to cross his arms but stopped himself, not wanting to appear judgemental.

"I just…" Riley started, twisting his face slightly. As his eyes started to fog up, Reggie frowned. "Got a lot on my mind."

Reggie sat quite still, letting several seconds pass. "Hey, do you want to go hang? Me and a couple friends are going out."

"Uh, where?" Riley asked, rubbing one of his eyes.

Reggie waggled his eyebrows twice. "You'll see."

Fifteen minutes later, Reggie pulled to park between several trees. "Where exactly are we?" Riley asked, no longer able to wait for an explanation.

"The lake," Reggie replied, as though it were the most apparent thing ever. _The lake? What lake!?_ Riley thought, shaking his head before following Reggie past the trees. "Hey, there's everyone else," Reggie said, pointing past a large boulder. Riley looked quickly, finding three people approaching.

"Reggie, you're here!" Ariana's voice cheered, and she jogged over to wrap him in a hug. His mild laugh sent a wave of calming energy through the air. "Oh, hey Riley!" she added after several seconds, subjecting him to the same treatment. "I didn't know you were coming."

"Come on, let's get ready," Reggie said. "Oh, Riley, have you met Bree?" He gestured to one of the two remaining people, who Riley still struggled to see in the dark.

"Hi," Bree followed, waving gingerly. Riley replied in kind.

"And Titus," Reggie continued. Riley looked up then, locking into eye contact with the man. _So much for getting my mind off the situation,_ he thought. After several seconds, Titus nodded.

"Good to see you around," he said, a sincere look in his eyes. With a bit of resistance, a firm, powerful smile spread across his face. Riley widened his eyes, quite sure this was the first time he'd seen a non-serious expression on Titus, and after a few seconds he gave a wide smile of his own. Propelled by his newly-relighted joy, he grasped Titus' hand and shook it vigorously.

"Alright," Reggie said.

"You all ready?" Bree asked.

"Ready for what, now?" Riley jumped in. Ariana gave a mischievous yet excited grin, then beginning to slip out of her shirt.

Riley stared in complete confusion for several seconds, watching as the other four stripped down to their underclothes. "W… what the hell are you doing!?" At this point, Ariana broke into a laugh, giving Bree's shoulder a playful shove before dashing off at an oblique angle, rushing into the lake.

Reggie and Titus followed after her, their own shouts and laughs harmonizing with hers. "...Is this legal?" Riley asked.

"I wouldn't be doing it if it wasn't," Bree giggled.

"But is it safe?"

Bree rested a hand on his arm. "Come _on_ ," she replied, joining her friends in the lake. Riley stuttered slightly to himself, finally beginning to stumble out of his shorts. _Good thing I wore boxers,_ he thought, shaking his head again.

In spite of his uncertainty, he ran into the lake to fit in with the others. "Yeah!" they all shouted at him in impressive unison. Reggie shoved his arms out, sending quite a splash of water over Riley.

"Hey," Riley jeered. "Asshole." He retorted with his own splash, and soon enough everyone had joined in the fight. As Ariana's squeals and Titus' cheers reverberated across the lake, Riley found himself starting to laugh continuously as well.

* * *

A stone settled in Denali's stomach as she awoke the next morning. She rolled over abruptly, as if to force out the feeling, albeit futilely. As she sat up, she rushed her fingers through her hair, then made quickly for her kitchen. The cup she snatched from her cabinet clattered into the sink, and she groaned in frustration.

"Tough morning?" Georgia's voice lead Denali to whip around. "I'll take that look as a yes."

"I-it's fine. This is just… the first thing I've done today, and I don't like the omen," Denali replied, trying to smile.

"Oh, hon," Georgia continued, "if that's the worst thing that happens to you today, I'd call that a win." She chuckled once, tossing Denali a lazy one-arm hug before heading to the door.

"Where are you going?" Denali asked.

Georgia closed the door slightly, resting it against her body with one arm and leg outside of it. "Birdwatching," she said, facetiously.

"Cute," Denali replied, rather tamely. "Hey, did Bree ever make it back last night?"

Georgia smirked, absent-mindedly swinging the door open and then back against her shoulder. "Don't think so. I think they were all staying over at Ariana's afterwards."

 _That's a good place for them,_ Denali thought with an internalized smirk. "Sure. But, wait, seriously. Where are you going?"

"No need to be the mom, hon," Georgia giggled. "I'm trying to get Cyril and Pablo to go minigolfing with me. I'm totally gonna crush it." Georgia's words send a pulsation down Denali's arms, and she reflexively squeezed her hands into fists. "Anywho, have a good day; ta-ta." As the door clicked shut, Denali grabbed at the cup again.

 _Sakura's next,_ she thought. _It's time again._ She was unsure why these most recent signs were so disturbing to her or why she was so frightened, but she did her best to refocus the nervous energy into action. Thus, she whipped out her cell phone.

"What's going on?"

"Matt," Denali replied. "Do you know where we can find Sakura?"

"I don't know. Uh… you really should have called her." Denali tapped her phone against her forehead. "Wait, have you heard from Riley? He kinda disappeared from my place last night."

Denali frowned. "No, sorry. Listen, I better call her; bye." She awkwardly hung up and quickly sought Sakura's number from her contact list. "Stupid," she chided herself. Several painstaking seconds of ringing continued to grate on her heart, until finally the phone was answered. "Sakura!"

"Um, hi, Denali. Is everything alright?" Sakura tried to sound cheerful in spite of her blatant concern.

"Listen, you're in danger right now. Where are you?"

"I-I'm at the park just south of campus. I think that's pretty close to your dorm, right?" Her voice wavered ever so slightly, but she managed to remain calm. Denali could almost imagine her lounging on a bench, her elbow draped over the backrest.

"I'll be right there." With that, she let her adrenaline fuel her feet as she zipped out of the room.

The slapping sound of her shoeless feet on the cemented ground played out a continuous, motivating beat. _I can end this,_ she thought with each resounding step pulsing in her ears. _I can end this._ She had figured she would be needing to steel herself, but the thumping in her heart was, at the moment, primarily from running.

As she passed a fence, a robin on the corner post flapped loudly away, crossing her paths and sending waves of air over her face. She was filled with a strange urge to check her phone, so she wiggled it from her pocket, awkwardly slowing herself. "Come on," she chided herself. The screen was alight with the time, almost 11 AM. There were no notifications, though, so she grunted and kept running, gripping the device in her hands.

 _Where is Sakura?_ Denali traced along the power lines beside the park with her eyes, then letting them bounce among the treetops. _Where are the…_ She gasped upon seeing her. "Sakura!"

Sakura turned to face her, then stepping forward. Suddenly, a branch dropped beside her, and she jumped back. A second branch whacked her on the head, and she tumbled over. "No!" Denali shouted, sprinting over as quickly as she could.

A ghastly creaking sound stopped her in her tracks. She looked over at a large, nearby tree, which seemed to be suffering from major termite damage. It groaned terribly as it tipped in the direction of the two. "Shit," Denali whispered. Trying to regather her focus, she sprung back into action. She rushed several feet forward and wrapper her arms around Sakura as firmly as possible in a split second, then yanking her forcefully from the ground.

"Aah!" Sakura whined as the tree toppled a short distance away, then looking back at the collapse. Sticks and leaves scattered down around them, leading several bystanders to run off in fear.

The few who remained mostly stood in shock, staring blankly at the remains of the tree. Two of them, standing nearby, were Kimberly and Thomas, both of whom Denali was surprised to see.

"Denali!" Kimberly called out, throwing up a hand to point just past the fallen tree. Denali turned to follow its path, her eyes landing on the nearby power line post. The tree seemed to have fallen into the line, tearing one of the cables free. It danced around the ground, circling a somehow-upright bird's nest.

"Denali, let's get out of here," Sakura quietly said, standing slowly and walking over to Kimberly and Thomas. "Is Matt here with you?"

"Yeah; he stopped to use the restroom though," Thomas answered.

"He'll probably be coming out here after hearing that," Kimberly followed. "Are you both okay?"

Sakura nodded weakly. "Yes, I think so. At least, I am…" She turned her attention back to Denali, who remained seated several feet closer to the tree.

She was distracted again by a voice from behind. "What the hell happened?"

"Matt," Kimberly replied. "It's okay; everyone's fine."

Thomas coughed once. "Denali, you alright?"

She had not been paying attention to a single word that had been said after she'd seen the downed power line. Her eyes danced about, along with the end of the cable, which rang out in strange electric sounds the strengths of which she'd never heard before. _That's a whole lot of flux_ , she thought, internally laughing somberly. _Nearly killed here, and what pops into my mind but physics class._

She reflected on the last couple days of thought, how she'd planned on figuring out Death's design and beating it. She had been excited to hear that being bumped from the list was a possibility, but when she discovered that the list hadn't included two of the group from the start, she had run out of ideas.

"Denali, hey," Kimberly said, snapping her from her zone-out. "Why don't we go back home, okay?"

"Pablo's next," Denali responded.

"...Okay, then we can go talk to him and warn him."

"No," Denali interrupted. "...Sorry, I just… I'm so tired of this. Dealing with trying to save everyone. We can't keep doing this." Her voice decrescendoed quickly, so Kimberly crouched down beside her.

"Denali, you don't have a choice. I'm so sorry, but… it's very hard to end this."

"Didn't you say there was one way?" Denali's whisper refused to rise a decibel.

"...Denali, don't…" Kimberly could see a look in her eyes, a look that mirrored herself near the end of her brush with Death, which honestly petrified her.

"Kimberly," Denali replied. "Thank you." With that, she stood and ran toward the power line. A nearby bird, presumably the mother, squawked and fluttered wildly around the nest. "Go," Denali urged. With a deft move, she grabbed the nest and plopped it a few feet away.

"Denali!" She didn't respond to my shouts. Indeed, she simply closed her eyes and grabbed for the flailing cable. "Stop!" My second shout was louder and more vulnerable, and against my better judgement, I launched myself in her direction as she began to vibrate. I wasn't about to lay hands on someone being electrocuted, but I couldn't just let her die, even if it would break the list.

As I motioned to grab a branch, thinking I could use it to knock the cable away from her, her arms caught fire, and I could smell the charred odor of electrocuted flesh. The cable burst forth from her grip, knocking her onto her back and grazing right past me. I toppled as well, quite literally shocked by the near incident.

"Matt!" Thomas shouted, jogging over to pick me up.

"Denali…" I may have muttered, slipping out of consciousness. In my uncomfortable limbo state of dreaming, I could visualize Denali's worn body, mirroring my vision of the gas station accident.

The last thoughts to pass through Denali's head were rather id-like in response to shock and pain, but before them, she made sure to ease herself for passage from her Earthly life. _It really is all over now,_ she mused, trying to briefly visualize one final trip among the cloudy atmosphere of Venus before letting go.

END OF ACT TWO


	16. Over

Author's Note: One year later, and here's the final chapter. I hope it's one you all enjoy! Be sure to stick around for my post-epilogue note at the end of this one.

* * *

Final Destination: Breaking Down

Chapter Sixteen: Over

* * *

Several days had passed with no further turmoil. There were no more signs, no more near-death accidents, and no more fearful days. Well, there was always fear, but at least none of it had manifested into anything serious. Sakura felt a bit guilty about her joy, but she was quite grateful to be able to focus again on classwork.

At the end of that week was Denali's funeral, the first time in a week that all four remaining survivors were together. In deep respect, they sat on one side of the front row, opposite from the family. Sakura sat farthest at the end, hoping to avoid any conversation or interaction whatsoever with her parents. _What if they're mad that she saved me?_ she worried. Thus, after the end of the graveside service, she quickly cleared out.

"Hey, hey," came Pablo's voice from behind her. "Where are you running off to?"

Sakura brushed a strand of hair behind her ear as she looked over her shoulder. "Oh, I have to um, finish a lab report by Monday." She rubbed her eyes casually.

"What lab?" Pablo asked, raising his eyebrows.

Sakura gulped rather loudly. "Ch-chemistry," she shrugged, turning back around and picking up her pace. Pablo placed a hand on her shoulder to stop her, but without a second's thought she brushed it off, swiftly dashing across the cemetery to her car. She ran a hand through her hair before placing her face in her hands against the steering wheel.

A light tapping sound on her passenger window lead her to look over. To no surprise, its source was Pablo. After a deep breath, she rolled down her window. "Yes?"

"Mind if I come in?" he asked. With another quiet sigh, Sakura allowed him. He sat for several seconds in stagnant silence, trying to form his next words. "You…" He stopped for another few seconds. "Do you feel… guilty?"

Sakura wiped her eye again. "N-no, I mean, I don't think so. It's just… a lot's happened to us. And… now that it's finally over, I've been able to think about it thoroughly. And… seeing that look in Den-Denali's eyes was just, like, she was ready to die." Sakura inhaled deeply, then blowing out a cool breath. "It was so surreal."

"Pretty much all of last week was really damn surreal." Pablo stretch over to wrench an arm around her shoulder. "It's okay to be sad, Sakura. Trust me, we're all feeling your pain. And we're all gonna be here to help you ride it out." He mustered up as sincere a smile as his wearied soul could manage. "Just know that none of what happened is your fault."

"Did you know that she saved me?" Sakura started, sniffing briskly. "The same day that Yvonne passed. I was trapped in a woodchipper at the hardware store, and I was so sure I was going to die…" She stopped for a few seconds after hearing her voice waver. "...But she came running by and saved me. She was like a… guardian angel." Not knowing how to respond, Pablo stayed respectfully silent. After several minutes, Sakura finished. "...Thank you."

A wave of thought passed across Pablo's face, catching her attention. "There's something I think you should see," he chimed, pulling out his cell phone.

"What is it?"

Pablo clicked his tongue. "You'll see." He'd pulled up a video on his phone, the screen black save for a simple play button. After ensuring Sakura was looking, he tapped it.

The video depicted a fairly empty living room, and the camera rocked a bit with adjusting. Sakura gasped as Cameron walked onscreen.

"What's up everyone, this is Cameron Lawrence, and I want to tell you guys a little story and show you somethin' I been working on. I hope you like it." He cleared his throat, and Sakura was kept in suspense for a few seconds. "I've always been involved with basketball, since my brother was and some of my best friends were. Actually… I never really wanted to do it myself. I love what it's done for me, like makin' friends and all that, but it sometimes just ain't been worth it. My parents were pretty harsh on me at times, like whenever I had a game and missed a lot of free throws. It started to get at my self-esteem, so I was gonna stop playing when I got to college, but of course my dad saw the program on their website…"

"Where did you get this?" Sakura whispered. Pablo simply pointed at the screen, signalling Cameron would be speaking again soon.

"But recently, I've… been dealin' with some pretty heavy stuff. I been worrying about my own mortality after losing some friends. So, I figured life's too short to keep doing something that I'm not really havin' a good time with. So, I'm making this. I'm gonna be doing a dance performance, so… yeah." Cameron finished his spiel with a nod, then extending his arms to the side.

Sakura watched intently, her eyes following every move he made and her mouth slowly slipping into a surprised "o." His style was rather quick but seamless, his moves an interesting fusion of street and Waacking style. "This is…"

"Amazing?" Pablo added.

Sakura inhaled deeply and slowly. "Yeah," she exhaled, letting herself become transfixed on Cameron being who he really was.

When the video concluded, Sakura turned to lock eyes with Pablo. She was expecting a brief conversation about the video, but Pablo seemed intent on letting it speak for itself. "It's Kimberly and Thomas' last day in town. The rest of us were going to go get dinner with them. Do you still want to work on that lab report…?"

Sakura smiled nostalgically. "No, it's fine. I'll come with you all." She nodded slightly, allowing herself one last instance of freedom from the obligations of college. As she started her car's engine, a group of robins gathered nearby took off, capturing her eye as they rose into the sunlight.

* * *

"Hey, you coming?" Reggie asked, then thanking the concession stand worker and accepting a soda. "It's starting soon."

"Mmhmm," I replied facetiously. "You know this sort of thing never starts on time."

"Yeah, and then our college's entire Greek life body is gonna fight them," Riley laughed. I threw my arm around him heartily, then scanning the surrounding area. A couple hundred students had decided to go with the Greek Life Office's event for fall break up to Atlanta, and we were all in a flurry, trying to buy food and merchandise.

"How do you fight a band? Or, several bands, actually." Reggie took a drink then, wagging his eyebrows as he did.

I had stopped paying attention however, trusting that latching onto Riley would be enough for me to keep up with my brothers. I found myself looking for members of other fraternities and sororities that I knew, considering I didn't often get to see them. In the month since Denali's funeral, I'd been slow to recover from the death situation. Easing out of the constant panic was an achingly slow process, so I'd only really felt comfortable around my brothers. The constant vigilance, however, remained, and I doubted I'd be able to drop it at any time in the near future.

"Pablo," I said, regardless of whatever conversation Riley and Reggie had brewed around me. My eyes landed on the man a short distance away, surrounded by a flock of Sigma Nus. I waved to him and moved to approach when I caught his eye.

"Uh, guess we'll catch up with you later," Riley said, struggling to fistbump Reggie as I pulled him away. "Pablo, what's up?"

"Oh, hey guys. It's been a while since I've seen you two around. How's life treating you?" he replied.

"About as good as you'd expect," Riley answered. "Mostly dealing with the bullshit that is applied calculus."

"Hey," I interjected, "I love math. It's way better than your businessy stuff."

Pablo laughed softly once. "I used to say the exact same thing to Denali. Probably like once a week, actually. But I'm not huge on math either. I don't think I ever got the time to tell you, but my major is biomedical engineering. I'm very interested in advancements in prosthetics." The energy filling his eyes showed his passion was true, and I was enthused to see he felt so strongly.

"Yikes," Riley replied. I offered a nostalgic grin of remembrance for Denali, being rather grateful to be worrying only about math again. Riley didn't say anything of the sort, but it was there in his eyes, even if only I could tell from how well I knew him.

"Yeah, being a fancy science doctor is definitely my thing," Pablo continued, having waited for me to jump in. "Listen, I better catch up with the guys. Catch you two later?"

We nodded, allowing him swift passage. As he glided past, he stumbled slightly, tipping a few pieces of popcorn onto the ground. Riley attempted to stifle a chuckle. "He's beauty, he's grace," I chimed.

"He'll fall on his face," Riley added. I burst into laughter then, feeling a bit guilty about making fun of Pablo, but he'd encouraged us to be closer friends and rib each other on occasion. I briefly recalled the last night Kimberly and Thomas were in town, when all six of us went to that Irish restaurant to celebrate life. I had probably talked more with Pablo than any of the others, considering he was the only one with whom I'd never shared a class or a room. My smile remained wide before Riley tugged on my shoulder. "Come on, dude. Time's a-wastin'."

"Right," I nodded, allowing him to pull us back on track. Honestly, I was way too cerebral at times. After we defeated Death's design, my optimistic tendencies kicked back into full force, and I tended to daydream a bit more, a strange oxymoron to be paired with my vigilance. Riley really served as my rock, even after his emotional support was not the main thing keeping my spirit from cracking. He kept me from making a complete buffoon of myself around other people, which (probably counterproductively) made me more comfortable easing back into my own mind during the day. To be fair, it at least eased some of my daily anxieties, so I had no complaints.

"You have our tickets?" he asked, again bringing me back down to Earth. I patted the pocket of my cargo shorts affirmingly. The look he offered told me the faint sound of paper was not particularly reassuring. I pulled them out, holding them showingly in the air before handing him one. He looked past my hand then, his eyes squinting slightly in analysis.

"Something wrong?" I asked, dropping my ticket back to my pocket.

Riley shook his head casually. "Nah; I didn't know Sakura was in a sorority," he answered, tossing up a hand behind me. I turned around then, equally surprised to see her.

"She's not," I answered. I briefly glanced around me, ensuring I would not get in anyone's way, and crossed over to her side. "Sakura?"

"Oh, hi! It's nice to see you here," she answered, offering a hug. The tiniest bit concerned, I accepted it, keeping my eyes open.

"Uh, you're here with the university?" I asked.

She responded initially with a light giggle. "No. But I heard that Abi Ann and The Amy Hoffman would be here, so I had to come. It's really cool that the school got you all tickets too, though."

"Uh, hey, if you're not with someone, Riley and I are in K2," I chimed. "Just if you want to swing by before it starts," I added, recalling the inflexibility of seating arrangements.

She checked her ticket then. "Oh, I'm in K3, actually. So we should be pretty close. I'd better go get a drink, but see you soon!" She waved cutely and departed.

As I returned and wrapped my arm back around Riley, I thought about Sakura's changes over the last month. In spite of her deep sadness when it came to thinking about the deaths of the other survivors, she had really used the recovery from the insanity to grow. She was clearly more extroverted after the experience, like she'd finally become able to deeply know and trust other people. Additionally, she seemed more motivated to suck the marrow out of life, and she even went skydiving the week before the concert. I knew that was something I'd never be able to do as an acrophobe, but she was still something of a role model to me.

"It's pretty interesting to see her, huh?" Riley asked. I noticed then that I was glazing off, an earnest smile painted across my face. "She's really something. But I suppose we all are, now that we've won."

As soon as he'd spoken, a phrase wiggled itself into my mind. " _All that we've won, Carter, is a chance at a full life. A chance that I'm not going to waste."_ I heard a woman's voice clearly in my mind, but I couldn't place it, nor did I know who Carter was. The experience was a bit unnerving, but its message was an excellent summary of how I felt in regards to Sakura, so I let it pass, leading Riley to our seats.

"Oof!" he grunted, bumping into someone. My arm was jarred, so I jerked it back. "Hey, I'm sorry man... Oh."

"Riley," Pablo laughed. "We have to stop bumping into each other like this."

"Ha, that's true," Riley replied. "I'm gonna go use the bathroom. You want a drink?"

"N-no, I'm fine," I followed. Riley kissed me on the forehead, and I held on to his arm, trying to enjoy the sweet moment but feeling quite anxious. "What do you mean, you have to stop bumping into each other like this?" I asked Pablo after Riley left.

"Oh, kind of an odd story. I was out minigolfing one day with Georgia and Cyril, and I managed to literally bump into Riley. He was with Titus and Bree, actually, which was weird. But, like, I started to stumble into one of those little lakes, and he actually…" Pablo began to chuckle without much restraint. "He stumbled in at the same time! We bumped into each other, which was sort of scary at the time, but we were _dying_ afterwards."

The extremely familiar feeling of quivering came over my torso, and I instinctively turned around, as though I were expecting to see another sign of someone's death. My eyes only fell on one of the sunshade's pillars. Before I could relax, I saw there was a small corkboard, probably to display fliers for upcoming concerts. I slowly approached it, leaving Pablo behind in hopes of seeing a simple arrangement instead of the signs I was expecting.

One of the posters featured a powerfully posed lead singer, a silhouette without any distinguishing features. The flier was lazily tacked on the board, with the pushpin stuck through the silhouette's sternum. My hands clenched then into fists, and I knew immediately the hardest truth I'd faced yet - something Riley did at the minigolf course must have skipped Pablo, and thus, Denali's death was not out of order. Sakura and Pablo were not safe.

I stumbled back to my place, looking around as quickly as I could to find Sakura. "Hey Matt," Pablo asked, "where did you say you were from?" He clearly didn't notice my anxious visage.

"R-Rochester. Where's Sakura?" I was hoping he'd seen her pass by in the minute that I was gone, unlikely and illogical as it seemed.

He widened his eyebrows slightly, then holding up his phone. "She's been texting me from the line of the chicken and waffles thing. Why?"

"Sorry, I have to go," I said, bypassing the question entirely and speed walking out of the stands. As I jogged down the steps behind them, I ran my hand through my hair, disbelief filling my extremities. _We never beat it_ , I thought. _Sakura's still next._ Only a minor part of me was able to be grateful that Death had waited a month and that I could be there to protect her. Thus, I leered over the wide concession area, which was rather like a thriving agora. "Sakura, where the hell are you," I whispered, ready to spring right for the chicken and waffles stand when I found it. I gasped when I saw her near the front of the line and dashed for her without a second thought.

"Matt?" she asked, deep concern coloring her face when I approached.

"Sakura, listen to me; you're still in danger," I breathed.

"What? I thought this was all over." Try as she might, she failed to hide her fear, which at least meant she trusted me implicitly.

"Pablo told me he bumped into Riley a month ago when they fell into a pond. I think Riley must have skipped him before Denali died." My words tasted bitter, and a similar expression was left on Sakura as she simply nodded. I grabbed her hand, pulling her away from the line.

She went along without any complaints, always one to keep from complicating situations. "What did you see?" she asked, presumably about the signs.

As we shuffled back toward the stands, I thought about how to word my answer. Before I could speak, I heard my name and turned to see Riley. His eyebrows were raised, and he stopped, standing between me and a different food stand. When I met his gaze, I froze up.

 _I leap out of Charleston, reliving the fateful day another damn time. I can feel pure terror as the ground speeds closer and closer to me, and I shut my eyes before my vision can be clouded by the rapidly-forming tears._

" _Oof!" That's Riley's voice, and I remember that he is the one who saves me. "I got you," he says, as though he's somehow calm after one of his friends fell out of a fucking building._

 _Alas, I find myself rejoicing at my survival and only offering my broken leg a passing glance. "Riley, oh my god," I cry, and he wraps me tightly in a hug. "They're all gone." I wish I could cease these disgusting tears, but my heart has dealt with too much in the previous ten minutes._

" _It's okay, buddy. A lot of people made it out. We made it out." He pulls out of the hug briefly to stretch, his body then jerking harshly. "I…" he starts, unable to continue._

" _Riley…" I look down and shriek when I see shrapnel poking through the front of his T-shirt. When he falls forward-_

I woke up then, cold sweat coating every unexposed part of my body. My eyes were still locked on Riley's, and he echoed the distress I was sure radiated from my every pore. "Riley…" I was so quiet, I could barely hear myself.

* * *

"Matt, what-" He was interrupted by the sound of something being engulfed in flames at a rapid rate, which I noticed was the food stand behind him. I tried to move, but I was solidified when I saw that foggy look enter his eyes.

"Riley," I said, louder. Several shouts of shock sounded around me, but I ignored them.

"M-M-Matt, I th-th-" he stuttered, slowly bringing his hands up to his chest. The slightest tip of a fancy knife poked through his upper abdomen, and I felt my cries catch in my throat. Without a thought, I wrapped him in my arms. "I… d..." He began to cough then, spitting up flecks of salivated blood. He weakly planted a kiss on my cheek before slipping out of consciousness for the last time, and he slumped in my arms, which refused to let him go.

At that point, my throat released, and I finally screamed.

* * *

"Matt, what-" He was interrupted by the sound of something being engulfed in flames at a rapid rate, which I noticed was the food stand behind him. Using all my willpower to move, I grabbed his arm and yanked him to the ground. I caught a glimpse of a long chef's knife stabbing through the air, dashing past us and driving through a wooden sign post.

Sakura dropped then, ensuring that Riley and I were okay. "Yeah," I answered, undeniably relieved he'd managed to dodge that situation. _Stabbing must be painfully frightening…_ I thought, flashing back momentarily to Ben, Lucy, and Yvonne's deaths.

"Shit, dude," Riley sighed. "What the hell was that?" I didn't yet have the willpower to tell him that he was back on the list, but I figured he'd be able to draw the conclusion on his own, so I refocused my efforts on Sakura.

"Listen, I don't think we're safe here. Sakura, you're still next…" It was only then that I noticed the many people who'd been surprised by the burning of the nearby stand, who were shouting and running around. "Let's get out of here."

"Matt!" Pablo's shout spun me around, and as I turned I saw the flame had overtaken the damaged sign. Without a second thought, I shoved Sakura out of the way, narrowly missing the toppling torch. It slowly petered out as we lied there in shock.

Pablo jogged over then. "Listen, we'd better go-" Before he could close his mouth, his foot slipped on the ash, and he tumbled backward, releasing a squelching sound that froze my heart. When I sat up, I saw his eyes staring at us in fear, the sprinkling of sweat that lined his face, the sliced signpost jutting through his upper abdomen. With a tear in both our eyes, he extended me his hand. Only moments after taking it in mine, it fell limp.

* * *

END

* * *

Author's Note: Honestly, I could not decide which of these endings to go with for the story. Even in all of my planning documents and spreadsheets that I have for all sorts of stories, I always wrote that both Riley and Pablo were survivors and that they were killed. As the reader, you are now the owners of this story, and whatever you wish to believe that doesn't directly counter the words I've written here can be true. I'd ask that you respect the trans, nonstraight, and nonwhite identities of characters I've outlined both in the story and in the character descriptions you can find on my profile, but other than that, interpretation is up to you. If you think Riley's death is more believable, excellent; that's true. If you're sure Pablo's fate is the real one, great; you're right.

This fic won't have a sequel. Really, as much fun as writing Final Destination fics is, it's hard to come up with creative twists that keep the genre-savvy readers in suspense and excitement. I hope that my characterization plays higher role in your judgement of the story instead of the mechanics, honestly. I know this is hard to believe, but I'm actually thinking if I were to write a third FD fic, it might be a sequel to Out of Place instead. I think this one works well as its own piece, plus I can't make the decision of Riley vs Pablo for you ;)

If you're interested, feel free to swing over to my profile for the character descriptions or to read Out of Place. Thank you for making it this far; if you're reading these words then I appreciate you much. I'd love to know what you think of the story, but most of all I'm glad to have completed a work I'm proud of. I wish you all the best in life, because in death, there are no accidents, no coincidences, no mishaps... and no escapes.

-Don


End file.
